It is very sporting of John McDonnell to release his tax return for us all to inspect. It is reassuring to see that he isn’t posing as a hero of the working man while living off rent from a property portfolio, and that he hasn’t been working on the side for Vodafone or Google while laying into their tax affairs. Presumably it is the very simplicity of his tax return with which he hoped to impress us.
But that is what is bothering me – the lack of entries. Apart from his income of £61,575 as an MP and a pension of £14,421 from his career in local government he seems to have no taxable income whatsoever. Most worrying of all he appears to have earned not so much as a pound in interest from a savings account.
It is possible that McDonnell has a cash ISA, income from which does not need to be declared on a tax return.
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