Should Politicians Make Their Tax Returns Public?

American Politicians publish their annual tax returns, and it's been mooted that British MPs might do the same, but, like hormone treated beef, is this just another dodgy American import that we'd be better orf without...?!?

The practice initially caught on in the UK after the 2012 London mayoral election, when Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson traded insults regarding their respective earnings and tax positions.

A political stunt has since grown into an unofficial expectation that party leaders and senior MPs release their tax details.

Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves are the latest to oblige. Their most recent published returns are their MP pay for the 2023–24 tax year —£81,390 for Starmer and £76,955 for Reeves and small additional income from royalties on books and interest on savings.

What can we learn from this?

Publishing MPs' tax returns certainly panders to short-term curiosity and click-bait links, but offers no real substantial benefits besides....

MPs already have to put financial interests such as shareholdings, consultancy fees, or presents onto public registers and these registers are designed to detect conflicts of interest, which are much more important (and already exist) compared to knowing whether someone made £500 last year in book-sales.

Besides, publishing tax returns selectively is more of a problems than it is worth. It promotes voyeurism and envy rather than promoting democratic transparency.

In the United States, where it is more entrenched, it has done nothing to prevent corruption or establish public trust. Donald Trump famously refused to release his returns in 2016, sparking years of speculation. When the accounts of some of his finally became public, they revealed he had paid only minimal tax—still this was not enough to deter his supporters nor spark worthwhile reform.

Also if we choose to just ask politicians to publish tax returns, then we may distract ourselves from corruption by senior civil servants, corporate donors, and think tank CEOs....

Final thoughts...

If we have to demand tax transparency, then it has to be universal—or nothing. Otherwise, we will make political disclosure a sideshow, not a serious tool of democratic accountability.

However, one cuationary tale to finish.... Finland requires public disclosure of everyone's tax documents, and the day when they come out is colloquially known as "National Jealousy Day".

Posted Using INLEO