Skip to content

Monthly Archives: February 2007

Sarah Wykes - an update

28-Feb-07

Following the report I made a week or so ago about Sarah Wykes’ arrest, I’m pleased to post the latest update on her situation:
LATEST GLOBAL WITNESS STATEMENT ON ARREST OF DR SARAH WYKES
28/02/07 Cabinda, Angola : Global Witness employee granted permission to leave for Luanda but must remain in Angola to face national security charges
At […]

Ryanair - not much grasp of economics

28-Feb-07

Accountancy Age has reported that Micahel O’Leary of Ryanair has been attacking Gordon brown again :

O’Leary has not let up with his attack on chancellor Gordon Brown’s air passenger duty, telling the Parliamentary Monitor that it is a ‘tax grab’ and has nothing to do with the environment.

He has apparently said:
‘Taxing cheap air travel is […]

Yesterday Tax Research, today the FT

28-Feb-07

Chris Steel offered a guest contribution on poverty in Jersey here yesterday. Today he is quoted extensively in the FT on the same issue along with Rosemary Pestana, another key member of TJN / ATTAC Jersey.
The FT charges for its on-line content and so full access will not be available to many. but this gives […]

People want tax justice

28-Feb-07

It’s good to see Cayman NetNews quoting me quoting them on the subject to their editorial on poverty in their island. Coupled with yesterday’s report here about poverty in Jersey these two stories provide compelling evidence that being a tax haven is not by any means good news for those local people who suffer the […]

Private equity - subsidised by the UK to transfer our wealth offshore

27-Feb-07

The Guardian ran a special feature on private equity on Saturday. It referred to the tax incentives associated with this activity, but missed the essence of this taxation issue, which appears to have been universally overlooked.
There is little problem with private equity using borrowed money to buy companies and getting tax relief on the interest […]

Jersey - not an island in the sun - guest blog from Chris Steel of ATTAC / TJN Jersey

27-Feb-07

Senator Frank Walker is continually telling us that we live in an “inclusive society” where “the people of Jersey have a high quality of life”. Let us take a closer look at what he means.
Jersey’s high value residents, the ones that seek residency in Jersey so they can avoid paying their codified tax liabilities in […]

Aid - the serious misconceptions

26-Feb-07

The Observer has reported that Action Aid has commissioned ICM to undertake a poll to find out how much the UK government really spends on development. Staggeringly the finding was that:

respondents guessed that the government spent an average of 18.5 per cent of its budget on developing countries.

The actual number is 1.3%.
Two things seem to […]

The Economist and offshore finance

26-Feb-07

The Economist published a review of offshore finance as a supplement with last weeks edition (24 February 2007). Most is not available free on the web, but the lead article is, here. As with KPMG’s recent efforts, this is a poor piece of work. To put it another way, it’s quite clearly designed as an […]

So are the super-rich really worth having?

26-Feb-07

The Observer ran a story under the above title yesterday. I had the following to say in it:

Even if the super-rich deserve every penny of their bonuses, and spread their wealth around by helping charities, Richard Murphy of the Tax Justice Network says the ‘rich people create jobs’ argument doesn’t stack up. Attracting wealthy individuals […]

From beyond the fringes, to the FT

23-Feb-07

Valentin Petkantchin wrote an article in this morning’s FT attacking the EU’s policy on tax havens.
I’ll be unsubtle about the article. It’s confused, illogical, appears to promote tax evasion and has at its core a perception of government and markets that appears markedly at odds with society as we know it. I was astounded that […]

Close
E-mail It