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JEREMY CORBYN and John McDonnell heaped pressure on their Tory counterparts to publish their tax returns by making their own public yesterday.
The Labour leader paid almost £50,000 to the Exchequer, according to figures released by the party.
In the 2016-17 tax year, he received a total income of £136,762, including one salary for being an MP, another for being leader of the opposition and two pensions, and paid a total of £48,079.80 in tax.
He received £6,464 in state pension and £2,405 from a Unison union pension, on which he paid £962 in tax.
Mr Corbyn said: “Tax avoidance and evasion deprive our public services of tens of billions of pounds every year and will only be tackled if we have the political will to do it.
“We cannot expect the public to trust us as party leaders if we are not prepared to be open and honest about our own tax arrangements.”
He earned just £6 in interest over the tax year, which suggests that he has almost no savings.
His office said he has no stocks or shares, benefits from no trust funds and did not receive any income from property.
Mr Corbyn’s returns also shows a total of £890 in gift aid contributions linked to charity donations over the year.
Prime Minister Theresa May published her tax returns while standing for the Tory leadership in 2016 but did not do so last year despite Mr Corbyn releasing his.
The Labour leader has released his tax return to the public three years in a row, but Tory Chancellor Philip Hammond has refused to do so.
In the 2016-17 tax year, shadow chancellor Mr McDonnell received a total income of £87,353 and paid a total of £24,099.20 in tax, Labour said.
Mr McDonnell said: “I have again published my full tax return.
“I have done this every year as shadow chancellor because I believe, if you aspire to be in charge of the nation’s finances, then you should be as open and transparent about your own income as possible.
“It is right that people in high office are subject to a high degree of scrutiny and I call on the Prime Minister and Chancellor to follow suit and publish their tax returns in full.”
