The Mayor of London earned more last year than David Cameron, George Osborne, Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell combined.
Boris Johnson joined the stream of politicians publishing their tax returns today, showing that he has paid almost £1 million in income tax over the past 4 years.
In each year for which Johnson has published information, his outside earnings dwarfed the £143,911 salary he drew as Mayor of London. In 2011/12 and 2013/14, Johnson was paid £250,000 by The Daily Telegraph for his weekly column – a salary he once described as “chicken feed”. In 2012/13 the newspaper paid him £220,430, and in 2014/15 it paid him £266,667.
Johnson also earned significant money from book royalties: £91,500 in 2011/12, £59,615 in 2012/13, £93,653 in 2013/14, and £224,617 in 2014/15. In 2013/14, the Mayor also earned £31,696 in “other freelance income”.
The Mayor’s taxable income was highest in 2014/15, when he earned £612,583 and paid £276,505 to the Exchequer. Over the 4 years, he paid a total of £916,481.
Like David Cameron and George Osborne, the Mayor eschewed publishing a copy of his full tax return, and instead released a summary of the information therein.
The Mayor's taxable income of £612,583 last year was more than David Cameron, George Osborne, Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell combined.