Richard Tice has said all Brits should do their best to pay as little tax as possible, as he dismissed reports of him avoiding £600,000 in tax.
Over the weekend, the Sunday Times reported that Rice had “avoided nearly £600,000 in corporation tax” through his property company, Quidnet Reit Ltd.
Tice used a complex corporate structure that allowed his company to avoid the tax on more than £3 million in profits.
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The arrangement involved registering a property company as a Real Estate Investment Trust despite failing to meet the typical eligibility rules – a structure that tax experts described as “highly aggressive tax planning.”
On Monday, Tice faced questions about the reports as he hosted a press conference about Reform’s claims to have saved large sums of money in the English councils it runs.
Tice defended himself, pointing out that he had not broken any laws with his tax arrangements.
When he was then asked if it was right to avoid tax in the way he had, Tice said he rejected the idea people should “pay the absolute maximum tax possible”.
Asked if he would therefore encourage everyone in the UK to pay as little tax as legally possible, Tice replied: “Yes, of course, that’s what you should do.”
Tice went on to claim the Times article was proof the media want everyone in Britain to pay as much tax as possible.
“We have entered a new world where there is a moral imperative now in the United Kingdom that you shouldn’t just pay tax as required,” he said.
“You must pay the maximum personal income tax rate on everything. That is a mad situation to be in. We have to call it out.”
Labour’s party chair Anna Turley has written to HMRC calling on them to investigate Tice’s tax affairs.
In her letter, she said it was a “deeply troubling case which needs to be investigated with the utmost urgency.”