Tax Research UK

Ireland’s suffering offers a glimpse of Britain’s future under the Tories | Business | guardian.co.uk .

Larry Elliott on the carnage that’s been unleashed on Ireland and which the Tories would create here.

Richard Murphy Ireland

There are at least five articles on the TJN blog in the last day I’d like to copy and paste here.

The Swiss have conceded the need for automatic information exchange.

Belize may suffer sanctions.

Mark Thomas is saying let’s invade Jersey.

The sadness of Guy Hands is revealed – a man who won’t see his own children so save tax.

And more. Go read, or you’re missing out.

Richard Murphy Uncategorized

From the FT this lunchtime:

Demand may improve if gilt yields approach 5 per cent. And traditional buyers – such as pension funds, banks and insurers – are expected to remain loyal to the market. “There will be gilt buyers at the right levels,” Gartside added. “To my mind, 5 per cent is a pretty good return. The current level of 3.9 per cent is low given that inflation is 2.9 per cent.”

Pension funds, in particular, are keen to see gilt yields rise as the QE programme has increased their liabilities. “We hope that the suspension of QE will raise yields, and so reduce scheme deficits,” said Joanne Segars, chief executive of the National Association of Pension Funds. “We want the government to play its part in supporting pension funds and help stem the tide of scheme closures by issuing more long-dated and index-linked gilts. This will help bring the stability that schemes need.”

Ignore all the nay-sayers, all the brokers, all the wide boys and all Conservative politicians: here’s the real opinion worth having on government debt. Relax the interest rate a little – or drop the AAA status (the effect is the same in broad terms as the increase in risk is reflected in an increased interest rate) and you’ll please the biggest market for UK government gilts (that’s debt in plain terms) - the UK pension fund market.

Put it another way: the demand for UK government debt is real, strong and will be continuing because UK government debt is the one savings product  the increasing number of baby-boomer pensioners can rely upon to pay them into old age.

Which proves just how wrong George Osborne and all his sycophants in the right wing media are. The reality is UK government borrowing is good news for our pension sector. The simple message is we can spend our way out of recession – as we need to, and benefit in the long run. Hoe about that for a double whammy (oh, and we can afford the extra interest too….)

Richard Murphy Economics

For those interested I should be on the Jeremy Vine show today at 1.30pm BBC Radio 2, discussing why George Osborne is wrong to obsess about AAA rating for the UK.

I think someone’s been reading this blog.

Richard Murphy Blogging, Economics

Ukraine’s election goes the wrong way for Uncle Sam as Viktor Yanukovych claims win | News & Politics | News & Comment | The First Post.

If you’re not the side that Uncle Sam favours then it seems you’re just not allowed to win an election fairly and squarely.

I do expect there’s a lot of truth in this.

And it’s not to the credit of the USA or the media that it’s probably true.

Richard Murphy Ethics, USA

The EU has issued a notice saying:

In order to ensure direct communication between the banking industry, consumers and the European Commission, a Group of Experts in Banking Issues (GEBI) will be set up with the following mandate:

1. To give advice and opinions on the policies and possible legislative measures of the EC in the field of banking (including capital requirements, supervision, conglomerates, bank accounting, crisis management, and deposit guarantee schemes);

2. To provide information, forecasts and analysis concerning the background, and possible impact of banking policies and legislative proposals on various stakeholders.

The requirement for membership?:

- proven knowledge, competence and experience, including at European or international level, in the field of banking regulation.
-commitment to European issues and the internal market in financial services, ability to talk to relevant industry and public entities, willingness to commit time, neutrality and fair judgement;
- interest in formulating policies in banking regulation to respond to the challenges created by the financial crisis;

And the reward?:

Members will receive no remuneration for their duties in connection with the activities of the expert group, nor will they receive reimbursement of travel and subsistence expenses in connection with their attendance at meetings of the group.

So what will we get? Bankers talking to bankers and saying stakeholders want what bankers want.

I despair.

The EU / EC should:

a) Allocate seats to stakeholder groups

b) Fund them

c) Make clear they can issue minority reports if need be

d) Provide them with technical support.

Then we’d have meaningful debate. Right now there will be none.

Richard Murphy Banking, Europe