40 per cent Britons think Cameron's tax affairs magement 'repugnt'

London, April 17: Nearly half the Britons think British Prime Minister David Cameron’s magement of his fincial affairs has been “morally repugnt” — and that all tax returns should be made public. In a ComRes poll for The Independent, 49 percent of people said the tax returns of all citizens should be published, with just 31 percent saying they disagreed with the idea.

This open approach is the law in Sweden, Finland and Norway, where each person’s annual fincial details are available online in a searchable database, The Independent reported.

However, not everyone is a fan of such rigorous transparency — 30 percent of people admitted that they have used cash to pay a builder to avoid VAT. Only 31 percent of people thought Cameron had been “honest and open” following his involvement in the Pama Papers leak.

Around 44 percent of people agreed that “morally repugnt”, a phrase used by Conservative Party’s George Osborne about tax avoidance, describes Cameron’s magement of his fincial affairs.

The survey found that 59 percent of people believe that the Conservative Party “only represents the interests of the rich” — an increase of eight points since three years ago — and just 23 percent said the government has a good record of tackling tax avoidance and evasion.

But so-called “Dodgy Dave” was still the number one choice of politician to mage respondents’ fincial affairs, winning 36 percent of the vote compared with Labour Party’s Jeremy Corbyn and Scottish tiol Party leader Nicola Sturgeon, both at 19 percent.

Labour voters are less loyal to their leader than their Conservative counterparts, with 42 percent saying they would trust Corbyn to mage their fincial affairs, compared to 71 percent of Conservative voters who would entrust their accounts to Cameron.

Cameron published a summary of his tax returns last weekend, sparking controversy over inheritance tax after it was revealed that he inherited 300,000 pounds from his father and received a 200,000 pounds gift from his mother. Other party leaders including Corbyn and Sturgeon have since followed suit. (IANS)