Nigel Farage tax return refusal dubbed 'another leaf from Trump's playbook'

Nigel Farage faces a fierce backlash after saying he would not publish his tax returns - despite other party leaders doing so.

The Reform leader was challenged to release the information about the amount of tax he pays on his huge outside earnings. Mr Farage has declared more than £800,000 on top of his MPs' salary since being elected to Parliament.

But when asked if he would release his tax return - as Prime Ministers Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak, as well as Chancellor Rachel Reeves have done - he said it is "not necessary". Mr Farage said he was "not inclined" to do so, branding it an "intrusion too far".

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But he faces calls to come clean and show if he is on the side of working Brits. It comes after he was confronted over whether he had avoided more than £40,000 of stamp duty.

Despite saying he'd bought a home in his Clacton constituency, it later emerged the four-bedroom house with a pool was actually owned by his girlfriend. If Mr Farage had bought the home, the Mirror revealed, he would have been eligible for a £75,000 levy in stamp duty as it would not be his only home - but Laure Ferrari paid an estimated £44,000 less as it is the only home she owns.

Mr Farage said he was wrong to have said he bought the home himself during media interviews earlier this year. Parliamentary records show payments for hosting a show on GB News are made to the company he owns, potentially reducing the amount of tax he pays.

And he has previously admitted an "error" in setting up a trust fund on the Isle of Man to reduce his family's inheritance bill. Asked if Mr Farage should publish his tax returns, TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak told the Mirror: "Absolutely I think he should.

"Here's my challenge to Nigel Farage - whether its speaking fees for engagements at right wing think tanks in the States, or TV appearances or anything else - you publish yours, I'll publish mine."

He added: "Let's see Nigel's tax returns and we'll see who is on the side of working people." On Friday Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner stepped down after admitting an error meant she underpaid stamp duty by around £40,000 when she bought a flat in Hove, Sussex.

Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham told the Mirror of Mr Farage's refusal: "I think it's rich - rich in lots of ways. It's absolutely unbelievable that he said that because yesterday at his own conference, he was slamming the issue around Angela Rayner.

"So therefore, the question being, why not? All the previous Prime Ministers have. He's saying that if he was a prime minister, he wouldn't. Why not? Why wouldn't he?"

She added: "He likes to portray himself as the honest broker, you know, the straight talker. Well, this is part of that, isn't it? Everybody else has done it, why wouldn't you."

A Labour source said: "Farage has had an awful lot to say about other people's tax affairs. But he's disgusted when anyone asks about his.

"What has he got to hide? Maybe it's time he came clean with the public." And Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper - whose boss Sir Ed Davey has released his own tax information - said: “Nigel Farage is continuing his tired old tribute act by taking yet another leaf from Donald Trump's playbook and refusing to publish his tax returns.

"As a party leader, of course he should publish them.” During an interview with the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg, Mr Farage bristled at the suggestion his tax affairs are "not exactly straightforward".

He said: "I take objection to the very premise of that question." Ms Kuenssberg also pointed out that the wannabe PM has a separate company for his earnings outside of being an MP.

Addressing the house purchase, Mr Farage shot back: "The fact that she's (Ms Ferrari) bought a house, I mean, why not?" And he continued: "I have been for 30 years, in my own way, an entrepreneur.

"I've run companies for 30 years. I've employed lots of people directly. I've employed loads of people as contractors. As it happens, I still employ quite a few people as contractors.

"I have a company that does a variety of things. Media income is just one of them. And you know, what do we want?

"People in politics who have paid tax, lots of tax, who've created lots of jobs or not." Pressed on whether he would release his own tax return he said: "I haven't published my own personal tax returns. I personally think that's an intrusion too far, I don't believe it's necessary."

He continued: "I'm not inclined at the moment to do that." The official register of members' interests reveals that since becoming an MP, Mr Farage has declared £313,293.20 of income from news channel GB News.

This is paid to his company Thorn in the Side Ltd - of which he is the director and only shareholder - rather than directly to him. There is no suggestion that he has broken any rules, but such arrangements have been criticised in the past as it can be a way of avoiding income tax of 40%, instead paying capital gains tax of 25%.

In 2014 he admitted setting up the Farage Family Education Trust 1654 in the Isle of Man in 2003. This was done with the intention of limiting the amount of inheritance tax his children would have to pay when he died.

But he said he felt "a bit uncomfortable" and wound it down a few years later. He told the BBC at the time: "I should not have bought the policy...It was an error."

And he said: "There was never an intention to avoid or evade tax on my part in any way at all." The Mirror has contacted Reform UK for comment.

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