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Monthly Archives: January 2007

Developments in Guernsey

31-Jan-07

The government in Guernsey has resigned. This is not unexpected. As the BBC have reported:

The Welsh Audit Office (WAO) was asked to carry out an investigation following concerns the Policy Council had used its influence to encourage RG Falla to withdraw.
The bid was £2.4m lower than the one accepted, and was the preferred tender.
The WAO’s […]

Let’s get the defintion of fraud right

30-Jan-07

KPMG are reporting that:
Fraud cases involving sums of more than £100,000 rose to 277 in 2006, from 222 in the previous year, according to KPMG Forensics Fraud Barometer - an increase of almost 25%.
For once I will make no comment on the messenger. What I do want to make clear is that I think this […]

What about the shareholders?

29-Jan-07

I’m always bemused by those who claim that companies are run in the interests of their shareholders. They always appear to be optimists who went on a one year undergraduate sub-option in economics and were naiive enough to think they were taught something approximating to the truth.
Take this story in Accountancy Age for example:
FTSE 350 […]

Bono - back in the news - and way off track

29-Jan-07

Bono is back in the news. He’s been at Davos telling the great and good what to do, but Bloomberg’s have decided to draw attention to his tax arrangements again.
Rightly too. As I mention in their piece in the Chicago Tribune:

Bono’s own dealings haven’t always followed the altruistic ideals he espouses, says Richard Murphy, a […]

KPMG plead guilty

29-Jan-07

Forbes and others have reported on KPMG’s latest tax misfortunes, this time in Texas. KPMG have pleaded guilty to 96 tax offences, accepted the maximum fine and are on probation (in effect) for three years if they still want to be allowed to practice in that State.
KPMG say that these matters all relate to partners […]

KPMG call for tax transparency

26-Jan-07

Loughlin Hickey at KPMG has been out on the stump in Sweden and has called for greater transparency in taxation:

I want to highlight signs that tax and corporate governance is an emerging issue, it is a global issue, and it is likely to set new standards for transparency in tax across the whole world.

I could […]

The US Tax Gap

26-Jan-07

The US Senate held a hearing on the Tax Gap earlier this week. Three organisations submitted evidence, of which one was Citizens for Tax Justice, with whom the Tax Justice Network has a close working relationship in the USA.
Bob McIntyre’s presentation was masterful. It does three things:
1) It shows that Bush really is making the […]

Tax justice at Davos

26-Jan-07

A backlash against the economic insecurity caused by globalisation is looming in the west unless governments tackle growing inequality by raising taxes on the rich, economists said in Davos yesterday.

So began a story from Larry Elliot in the Guardian yesterday.
I’m convinced that those who say this are right. The article’s well worth reading.
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Don’t shoot the messenger

25-Jan-07

Some interesting feedback on yesterday’s Jersey story. One person thought I was being unfair about the JEP’s website until he looked at it. Then he saw just why I needed to reproduce the story in full.
The JEP have complained that I did so. I made clear that if they, as the sole supplier of printed […]

Send a gunboat

25-Jan-07

China has realised that tax evasion has a direct cost on ordinary people. The China Daily reported today that:

Cutting taxes for low-income earners and fighting tax evasion by the rich. That will be the formula for narrowing the wealth gap, the country’s top tax official said yesterday.
“We will promote equity and social justice by making […]

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