Reform UK’s economics spokesman Robert Jenrick today said only his party “understands how people are suffering” as he pledged to cut VAT from energy bills.
However, during a Q&A session after the announcement, his leader Nigel Farage was forced to clarify the party’s manifesto pledge to “Stop the Offshore Taxpayer Rip Off”.
It follows reports Reform’s deputy leader and business spokesman, Richard Tice, avoided paying £600,000 via what lawyer Dan Neidle said “looks like highly aggressive tax planning”.
As Mr Farage stressed during the event in London: “He (Mr Tice) obeyed the law in every way.”
Mr Tice’s property company is said to have paid no corporation tax between 2018 and 2021 through complex offshoring arrangements.
Yet in October 2021, Mr Tice tweeted: “Offshore private equity groups continue ripping off British taxpayers as Morrison’s falls: almost certain to result in UK tax avoidance as they asset strip business”
And in Reform’s 2024 manifesto, the party pledged to “Stop the Offshore Taxpayer Rip Off”
At the Reform event, during which they unveiled their plan to scrap VAT on energy bills if they win power at the next general election, GB News asked Mr Farage to clarify what Reform’s policy on offshore tax avoidance is, given that their manifesto and Mr Tice’s post appeared to suggest they would crack down on these currently legal loopholes which allow the very wealthy to minimise tax.
Nigel Farage stressed during the event Richard Tice ‘obeyed the law in every way’
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GB NEWS
Mr Farage responded: “I want to be clear about this on tax. Richard Tice has obeyed the law. He’s filed his accounts on time. He’s obeyed the law in every way. And no one pays more tax than they have to. You don’t, I don’t. No one does.
“And so I think, you know, some of the questions around this show, perhaps, you know, a lack of understanding around rights as they’re known and how they operate, and the idea that, you know, he shouldn’t have saved for a private pension.
“I just don’t buy any of that at all. And by the way, it works the other way around, too. I would like to see many, many more foreign companies registering in this country paying corporation tax in this country.
“But the problem is, you know, in the last couple of years, we’ve put up corporation tax from 19 to 25 per cent. That’s a 30 per cent increase.
Richard Tice avoided paying £600,000 via what lawyer Dan Neidle said ‘looks like highly aggressive tax planning’
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GETTY
“And so is it any wonder that many of the giant globals actually are registered in Dublin for tax and not in this country? So tax competition must be an important part of our international trade policy.”