Aides to British Prime Minister David Cameron said Wednesday he would be happy to publish details of how much tax he pays, in what would signal an unprecedented move towards US-style transparency. Ministers have come under pressure to reveal their tax affairs in recent weeks after the government slashed the top rate of income tax, and following a bitter wrangle over finances in the campaign for London's mayoral elections.
Days after finance minister George Osborne said he would not object to publishing his tax records, a frequent practice in the United States, a source in Cameron's Downing Street office said he would also back such disclosures. "The prime minister is relaxed about the idea of the tax returns of senior cabinet ministers being published, but wants the opportunity to explore how this might work," the source told AFP.
The pressure for ministers to come clean began after the government cut the top rate of tax from 50 percent to 45 percent in its March budget. The opposition Labour party challenged Cameron and other members of his Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition, many of whom are privately wealthy, to say whether they personally benefited from the move. Cameron earns 142,500 pounds ($226,400, 172,800 euros) a year as prime minister, but media reports suggest that income from renting out his former London home could push him above the 150,000 pounds top tax threshold.
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