Zac Goldsmith,  David Cameron’s green adviser and the prospective Conservative candidate for Richmond Park, has been accused of avoiding the payment of nearly £6 million in taxes oer the last ten years by taking up non-domiciled status.

Mr Goldsmith has an estimated personal fortune of at least £200 million, which he inherited from his late father, Sir James Goldsmith.

Zac Goldsmith admitted last month that he had claimed off-shore “non-dom” status, but he says that he has given it up since the news became public.

The Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, Chris Huhne, has calculated that, at a conservative estimate, Goldsmith has probably avoided around £580,000 each year in UK taxes over the past ten years as a result of being classified as a non-dom.

Goldsmith, says that the vast majority of his income is taxed in the UK, but Chris Huhne told the Observer that if Goldsmith disputes the figures, he should publish his tax returns to prove it.

The Liberal Democrats have estimated that Goldsmith probably receives around 80% of his income in this country.   Chris Huhne, who is also a wealthy MP with numerous properties, says that Goldsmith probably receives a return of around 5% on his fortune, which would be around £10m a year. If 20% of this remained outside UK tax and was split equally between capital and income, he would save £400,000 a year in income tax (40% of £1million) and £180,000 in capital gains tax (18% of £1million).

Chris Huhne said:

“Someone who wants to pass laws about tax in this country ought to pay this country’s full taxes, and not hide behind the special offshore status of non-doms.

“Zac Goldsmith, even on the most conservative estimates, has avoided vast amounts of British tax by deploying the non-dom tax dodge. If he challenges our estimate of how much tax he has dodged, then I put to him a simple challenge. Publish your tax returns for the past 10 years, and I will publish mine.”

Goldsmith said when his non-dom status was revealed two weeks ago that it had given him very few benefits as most of his income came to the UK.

Green groups who have questioned Goldsmith’s environmental credentials are also asking why businessmen and companies who profit from the oil and gas industries are giving the Tories increasing amounts of cash