Jeremy Corbyn joked about his own over-paying of tax today as he trolled David Cameron in Prime Minister’s Questions.
The Labour leader quipped that he had paid more money to the taxman last year than “some companies owned by people” the Prime Minister knows.
The comment seemed to be a thinly-veiled dig at the parents of Chancellor George Osborne, whose firm Osborne & Little Group Ltd has reportedly paid no corporation tax since 2008 – despite generating millions in revenue.
Corbyn’s attack came after the Prime Minister mocked the Labour leader’s handwritten tax return, which showed he had paid too much tax and received a fine for filing after the HMRC deadline.
Speaking from the Despatch Box in the first PMQs since the spring recess, Cameron said: “I thought his tax return was a metaphor for Labour policy – it was late, it was chaotic, it was inaccurate and it was uncosted.”
Corbyn thanked the Prime Minister for bringing up his tax return, and said: “There warts and all: the warts being my handwriting; all - being my generous donation to HMRC.
“I actually paid more tax than some companies owned by people that he might know quite well.”
His comments provoked shouts of “Where’s George? Where’s the Chancellor?” from Labour frontbencher Angela Eagle, who had noticed the Tatton MP was absent the Government frontbench.
After the ‘Panama Papers’ leak of his private share income, Cameron took the unprecedented step of revealing his own tax affairs this weekend.
His statement showed that he had an annual income of more than £200,000, made up of his salary and rental income on his home.
Osborne also revealed that he too had an annual income of nearly £200,000, thanks to rental income from his London home and dividends on shares in his family wallpaper firm.