Tax cheats, English style

Liberal tax cheats don't have to be American.

From the mother state.......

Jacqui Smith was facing new sleaze claims last night over her constituency home.

The property on which she has claimed thousands of pounds in second homes allowance is actually her primary residence for tax purposes, it was revealed.

The Home Secretary has pocketed £84,000 of taxpayers' money on the home she shares with her husband, Richard Timney, and their two children in Redditch, her West Midlands constituency.

That was only possible because she persuaded the House of Commons authorities that her main home is actually her sister's spare bedroom in London, where she lodges during the week.

But after a freedom of information request, Redditch council has confirmed that Miss Smith pays council
tax as if the £300,000 constituency house was her main home.

Last night, Tory MP Ben Wallace said the revelations suggest the Home Secretary is guilty of 'an abuse of the system'.

He has passed the details of Miss Smith's tax status to the parliamentary sleaze watchdog, who has launched an inquiry into the affair.

The discovery threatens to further undermine the Home Secretary's already tarnished credibility, after it emerged that she also tried to get taxpayers to pay for her husband's porn films.

She should talk to Obama. He's still got some staff positions available.

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