Zack Polanski faced accusations of hypocrisy today after admitting he failed to pay council tax while living on a houseboat in east London despite demanding others pay more tax. The Mail has the story.
The Green Party leader apologised late last night – while Westminster was gripped by Labour’s leadership crisis – for the “unintentional mistake” and said he had “immediately taken steps” to pay any outstanding amount.
Polanski was registered on the electoral roll at a building in a marina where he kept the narrowboat, had post delivered there and had laundry collected from the boat.
The Olympian was recently advertised for sale for £100,000 – but the notice was mysteriously pulled after the Left-wing leader’s council tax arrangements were questioned last week.
Despite the ad referring to the narrowboat as his “amazing home” over the past three years, Polanski, 43, initially maintained he had not lived there permanently.
But the admission means that the Green Party lied to the press when officials falsely claimed that Polanski only stayed on the boat “occasionally”.
The Conservatives today criticised the Green leader, who campaigns for punitive wealth taxes on high earners.
Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake said he was guilty of “staggering hypocrisy”, adding: “Zack Polanski cannot lecture families across the country about paying more when he apparently wouldn’t even meet his own obligations in full.
“The British public will see this for exactly what it is. One rule for Zack Polanski, another for everyone else.”
Government guidance clearly states that council tax is payable if a boat is a person’s “sole or main residence”.
But analysis by tax lawyer Dan Neidle, from Tax Policy Associates, found that Polanski and his partner’s boat was not registered for council tax at the marina – despite another boat there previously being registered.
The boat and mooring would be rated as Band A, meaning Polanski could owe a total sum of council tax for three years of about £4,000, according to the analysis.
The admission came just hours after the Green leader, who is also a member of the London Assembly, was reported to the City Hall sleaze watchdog over his tax arrangements.
The Conservative leader on the London Assembly reported Polanski to City Hall’s monitoring officer over what has now emerged to be a failure to pay council tax.
The complaint, seen by the Daily Mail, calls for a formal investigation into “Mr Polanski’s residency arrangements, electoral registration, and potential council tax liability in relation to a narrowboat in east London”.
Worth reading in full.
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David Paulden, also going by the name of Zack Polanski but God knows why, was not registered at the marina at which he lived. Where was his registered address then?
He claimed to be paying rent somewhere else with council tax covered there but then gave the boat as address for electoral purposes.
Bent as a three bob note.
Looks like no fixed abode. Presumably the boat floats and moves? Or is it classified as a static mobile home? (Not my oxymoron).
Anyone seen this yet? A Zak Polanski CV randomiser. It’s genius
https://dynamic-profile-488554318091.europe-west2.run.app/
My view states he attended 4,000 brunch meetings; given he’s not obese, can this be true? 😂😂😂
“Zack Polanski”, real name David Paulden.
If he didn’t live there then did he commit electoral fraud?
I believe he is now being investigated for that.
If that picture is really the narrow boat he was on, it’s a testament to the man.
Everyone I know who has a narrowboat is obsessive to the nth degree about keeping it ‘shipshape and Bristol fashion’.
No particular surprise to find out DP is rather more cavalier in his approach.
If you can’t keep a small boat tidy, you’ve no business putting yourself forward for anything…
If he cannot even visit a dentist then he has no interest in keeping a narrow boat well.
What is unusual is that homosexuals usually put great effort into their appearance and dwell on young attractive flesh.
Living on a houseboat…
How very communost intellectual.
Of course, in his model of country, not everyone can live on a trendy houseboat.
Lest we forget, in places that implemented radical socialism, like Soviet Russia, the governed lived in 40m2 shoeboxes in large, ugly, cheerless apartment blocks.
Slightly off-topic… I love the way the gaps in his teeth appear to form a perfect Cross of St George. That must rankle a bit!
Good spot!
He really is an ugley f&cker.
Band A looks about right – it’s a bit grim looking in the photo… but then again it’s London, so probably described as a luxury, water based boating extravaganza or some such bollox…
What a surprise. It also suggests that the relevant council departments don’t communicate effectively to avoid that kind of fraud.