(Bloomberg) --

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak’s wife, Akshata Murthy, holds non-domiciled status in the U.K., meaning she doesn’t pay British taxes on her foreign earnings. 

The tax status, first revealed by the Independent and confirmed in a statement by a spokesperson for Murthy, could potentially save Murthy millions of pounds over many years in U.K. tax payments. Murthy is the daughter of Indian billionaire, Infosys Ltd. co-founder Narayana Murthy, and she owns 0.93% of the company’s shares, according to Bloomberg data. That’s valued at almost $1 billion at current prices.

Murthy “is a citizen of India, the country of her birth and parent’s home,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “India does not allow its citizens to hold the citizenship of another country simultaneously. So, according to British law, Ms Murthy is treated as non-domiciled for U.K. tax purposes. She has always and will continue to pay U.K. taxes on all her U.K. income.”

While there is no suggestion the chancellor or his wife have broken any laws, the revelation will add to the perception that Sunak is out of touch with the struggles of ordinary Britons. The chancellor has been losing support of both the general public and within his own Conservative Party in recent weeks, after delivering a mini-budget in March that critics said doesn’t do enough to tackle a growing cost-of-living crisis.

Sunak declared Murthy’s tax status to the Cabinet Office when he first became a minister in 2018, and the Treasury was also made aware in order to manage any potential conflicts. Murthy has lived in the U.K. for nine years, and after 15 years in the country will automatically be deemed domiciled in Britain for tax purposes. She pays tax abroad on her foreign income.

Recent missteps by the chancellor seized upon by the British media include wearing an expensive pair of sneakers and filling a small car that wasn’t his own for a photo-opportunity to publicize a cut in fuel duty. In 2020, he was photographed with a 180-pound ($236) coffee cup as he finalized plans to prevent mass unemployment at the height of the pandemic. 

On Wednesday, a YouGov poll found that Sunak’s net favorability is down 24 points in the two weeks since he delivered his Spring Statement. His current score of minus 29 is the lowest he’s ever recorded. That came after a separate survey earlier in the week showed his popularity has slumped among Conservative Party members. 

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