RAPID RESPONSES May 22, 2012 A hiring revolution [Re: Britain must embrace 30 per cent tax revolution to boost growth, Monday] I agree with your tax simplification ideas, and the report convinces me that reform would increase incentives to hire. But I’m not sure tax reform will be enough. It would help some firms save money. But just because money is [...]
Blanket immunity for developing nations has stifled climate hopes May 21, 2012 THIS week, diplomats in Bonn must face up to a crumbling international consensus on climate change. United Nations negotiations stalled in Durban last December. Japan, Russia and Canada recently joined the US by walking away from an extension of the Kyoto Protocol’s emission cutting targets – while China, Brazil and India weren’t bound in the [...]
Companies don’t pay taxes – but employees, owners and customers do May 21, 2012 THIS WEEK sees the launch of The Single Income Tax – the final report of the 2020 Tax Commission. As one of the commissioners, I’m proud of the result: a 417-page blockbuster of thorough analysis and sensible, yet radical, reforms. A Single Income Tax would ensure that taxes were cut to 33 per cent of [...]
Eurobonds are an economic risk and a political dream May 21, 2012 THE idea of Eurozone countries pooling their sovereign debt in the form of Eurobonds re-emerges every time the euro crisis suffers another turn for the worse. Curiously, the idea’s chief proponent seems to be the UK government, which has made several interventions, stressing the need for the Eurozone to move to “fiscal burden-sharing”. This puts [...]
Does the Chelsea Flower Show represent a uniquely British forum for doing business? May 21, 2012 YES Nick Byrne The Chelsea Flower Show is one of those uniquely English events that people either admire or are puzzled by. Certainly, compared to the way business can be conducted in China, there are differences. China has a long tradition of hospitality, which has been translated into a more Western concept of corporate hospitality. [...]
RAPID RESPONSES May 21, 2012 Pernicious taxes [Re: Britain must embrace 30 per cent tax revolution to boost growth, yesterday] I agree with the Tax Commission’s findings on inheritance tax. Inheritance tax is a tax on capital, on money that has already been fully taxed as income or otherwise. It’s pernicious and destroys the UK’s capital stock to pay for current [...]
At last – this Tax Commission has a practical way to fix the UK system May 20, 2012 THE 2020 Tax Commission, and its final report out today, isn’t the first call for substantial reforms to create a more efficient tax system. We found 53 earlier reviews. But taxes are still dysfunctional, and the last substantial change for the better was Nigel Lawson’s 1988 Budget and its sharp cuts in marginal tax rates. [...]
London still needs a Plus Markets for small-cap listings May 20, 2012 LAST week was a rollercoaster for the small-cap community, with uncertainty surrounding Plus Markets. It culminated in the announcement that Michael Spencer’s Icap has agreed conditionally, upon approval by the FSA and Plus shareholders, to acquire Plus SX and its Recognised Investment Exchange status. Plus companies and advisers will be relieved at Icap’s commitment to [...]
Events in Europe shouldn’t distract us from the global challenges we face May 20, 2012 AS Morning Wire readers read this, Greece and the stability of the euro is probably at the forefront of their minds. I am concerned, too, but my perspective today is different. I am looking back across the globe from where I have just landed on day one of a City business mission to the Philippines, [...]
As the Eurozone crisis progresses, would a Greek exit lead to a break-up of the euro? May 20, 2012 YES Jason Gaywood The overwhelming likelihood is that Greece will be forced to leave the euro. A stand-off between Angela Merkel and anti-austerity parties in Greece creates a difficult conundrum – if the EU stands firm and Greece defaults, its ejection from the euro will lead to contagion risk. Other members, like Portugal, Italy, Ireland [...]