Nadhim Zahawi’s tax position is not inherently very important. His presumably imminent resignation as a cabinet minister and chair of the Conservative Party even less so. But what this scandal tells us about the state of UK governance should worry us all.
The reported £3.7m that Zahawi failed to pay in tax is immaterial – a drop in the ocean when compared with the hundreds of millions in public funds that the government has distributed to insiders during the Covid pandemic and through the pork barrel politics of ‘levelling up’.
But tax matters for much more than just revenues. Tax is the glue in the social contract, the price we pay for civilisation. It’s a social act – a reflection of our belief in a better society, and a contribution to it. Tax is paying it forward.
