Zac Goldsmith did not tell his local party about non-dom status, chairman says (Twickenham & Richmond Liberal Democrats)

Zac Goldsmith did not tell his local party about non-dom status, chairman says

December 4, 2009 12:29 PM

Mr Zac, would-be MP for the Cayman Islands?

• [Dec 04] Christopher Hope and James Kirkup write: ZAC Goldsmith, David Cameron's green adviser, did not tell his local Tory party about his "non-dom" tax status when he was selected to fight the next election, it was disclosed last night.

Mr Goldsmith, 34, whose fortune is estimated at £200 million, caused embarrassment to the Conservatives after admitting earlier this week that he claimed non-domicile tax status. George Osborne, the Tory shadow chancellor, has frequently criticised so-called "non-doms" in Britain and said he will impose a £25,000 annual levy on their wealth. Mr Goldsmith's 300-acre farm in Devon and a house in Richmond, bought for £7.75 million in 2007, are both owned by companies based in the Cayman Islands. Earlier this week announced that he planned to surrender his "non-dom" status from the current tax year to defuse the row. However yesterday it was disclosed that Mr Goldsmith had failed to tell his local Conservative party about his tax status when he was selected as prospective parliamentary candidate for Richmond Park in March 2007.

Pamela Fleming, the association's chairman, said the matter was not discussed because "we did not ask the question. He was not asked about it. It did not come up". Last month, Elizabeth Truss, a Tory A-list candidate in south-west Norfolk, successfully fought a deselection battle after it was disclosed that, in her initial selection process, she had not told the constituency party about an earlier affair with a Tory MP. Party activists in Richmond are considering whether to call a special meeting of the local executive committee to discuss Mr Goldsmith's case. This could lead to a deselection meeting. However one ward has already decided to take no action.

Mrs Fleming said she was establishing "if there was a demand" for a meeting by canvassing key local party members. The association had received a handful of complaints from members of the public. So far she said she had only spoken to half of the 11 local ward chairmen, although none had called for a special meeting. It was reported yesterday that the local party's website contained a reference to a Conservative government, "closing tax loopholes for the super rich by reducing the complexity of the tax system". Lord Oakeshott, the Liberal Democrats' treasury spokesman, said: "It's sheer hypocrisy for a super rich non-dom Conservative candidate to call for loopholes on himself to be closed on his own constituency website." In a letter to local party members, Mr Goldsmith denied he had "dodged any tax" or that he owed "millions to the British taxman". "My non-domicile status is a reflection of my father's international status, but despite this, I have always chosen of my own volition to be tax resident in the UK," he said.

Richmond upon Thames Liberal Democrats: