Declaration of Interests & Income 2011

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Following last year’s declaration I am, like a couple of my self-employed writer/activists colleagues (George Monbiot and Alastair McIntosh), making an annual declaration of interests and income.

I think it is right that commentators and others in the public eye should be open about their interests and income. I also believe that we have too much secrecy in the UK on matters of income and wealth and that if everyone’s income was openly declared, there would be much less inequality. This is not an especially radical idea. In Norway, you can find details of every citizen’s income and the tax they pay on this website.

As a member of the Scottish Green Party, I also feel obliged to comply with the policy resolution passed at the 2011 Conference on Tax Evasion and Avoidance which encourages corporations and individuals to not use tax havens and to publish their accounts on a country by country basis.

2011 INCOME

I earn my living by writing, research, consultancy, lecturing, undertaking landownership investigations, subscriptions from the www.whoownsscotland.org.uk website and forestry contracting. During 2011 my income was as follows

GROSS INCOME     £25,762

COSTS                    £11,193

NET INCOME          £14,569

I paid £1,920.09 in income tax and Class 4 NI contributions for the year 2011-12 and £960.04 on account for 2012-13.

In 2011 I earned the majority of my income from the www.whoownsscotland.org.uk website subscriptions, undertaking land-related research including land searches, consultancy work, sales income from my book, public talks and appearances, and fees for occasional published work in the media.

All of my income in 2011 was generated from within the UK.

DECLARATION OF INTERESTS as at 6 January 2012

I own no property.

I have no shares in any companies.

I am on the Board of Directors of the Caledonia Centre for Social Development (Company No. 192099 & Scottish Charity No. SC 028485)

I am not currently undertaking any work for any Government.

I do not make use of any tax havens or artificial accounting structures to conceal my income.