UK millionaires pay virtually no tax

An analysis of tax returns of Britain’s wealthiest people has shown that British multimillionaires pay “virtually no income tax,” exploiting legal loopholes.

British Chancellor of Exchequer George Osborne, whose 2012 budget was described as a budget “for millionaires”, said he was left “shocked” by the findings of a confidential study by HM Revenue and Customs.

The findings of the analysis showed Britain’s multimillionaires submitted “anonymised” tax returns enabling them to pay little or nothing at all.

The results of the study showed that some of the wealthiest people paid an average of 10% tax or in some cases even nothing at all while they had to pay around one third of their income.

Osborne said the findings convinced him to take measures to ensure Britain’s high earners pay more income tax.

“I was shocked to see that some of the very wealthiest people in the country have organised their tax affairs, and to be fair it’s within the tax laws, so that they were regularly paying virtually no income tax. And I don’t think that’s right,” said Osborne.

This comes as Osborne was heavily criticized after he presented his 2012 budget to the House of Commons last month, with the opposition Labour leader Ed Miliband saying the budget robs millions of middle and lower earners to pay millionaires.

In his 2012 budget, Osborne cut income tax for those earning over £150,000 a year from 50p to 45p.

Meanwhile, as the findings of the analysis showed some millionaires took advantage of tax relief on donations to charity, Osborne said: “I was very clear in the Budget that we are specifically looking at making sure we are still encouraging philanthropy and charitable giving.”