There was a stunning editorial on Cayman NetNews yesterday. It was entitled ‘The gap between rich and poor’. I would love to quote it in full. It’s a telling story of just what life in a tax haven is really like.
The background is simple. The Cayman government is undertaking a National Assessment of Living Conditions [...]
The Guardian (and many others) have reported that
Goldman Sachs, which made profits of $9.54bn (£4.9bn) last year, has … revealed that its co-presidents, Gary Cohn and Jon Winkelried, each received $53m in cash and shares last year - only a shade below the $54m paid to its chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein. Its chief financial officer, [...]
Extraordinary headlines have been used to report the UK Institute of Directors’ (IoD) new report on capital gains tax and inheritance tax. For example, Accountancy Age has said:
The Institute of Directors has called for the threshold for CGT to be lowered, and for the tax to be simplified, to enable more tax to be raised.
That’s [...]
One of my regular correspondents sent me a mail on Mike Rake this morning. He said (subject to the odd edit or two to protect the innocent):
I think you’re right in suggesting Mike Rake will fit in well at BT, but I find it truly astounding that the most senior officer in an international Big [...]
M & S has won the latest round of its claim to offset losses made overseas against taxable profits arising in the UK. The Court of Appeal has ruled largely in its favour and the following pack of 300 odd companies are celebrating.
There are two reasons why I wonder about the cause of joy. The [...]
It always surprises me that Private Eye haven’t coined a name for Sir Mike Rake of KPMG. The word ‘muck’ seems to substitute in there somewhat nicely to me.
Which would also fit well into Rake’s new role at BT, a company whose attitude to tax and CSR I have heard explained on more than one [...]
As I mentioned some time ago, this site is moderated. I got bored by some people putting up comment that seemed to add to debate. Most comments from those I consider to be from the far right fall into this category, but every now and again someone puts so much effort into proving just how [...]
Sarah Wykes is Senior campaigner for Global Witness working on corruption and mismanagement associated with oil revenues. I’ve worked with Sarah. She’s committed to this cause for the benefit of the ordinary people of Africa, where she she has done much of her work.
On Sunday Sarah was arrested in Angola and charged with espionage. I [...]
Accountancy Age reports that the UK tax gap for VAT has widened because of staff cuts at HM Revenue & Customs.
This is sheer folly.
The logic behind these cuts baffles me. If HMRC recovered the tax due to it the pressure on other government departments would be reduced. Gordon Brown’s failure to grasp this apparently inescapable [...]
The following press release deserves publicity, so I’m going to give it some because this Bill deserves to become law:
Levin, Coleman, Obama Introduce Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act
Bill targets $100 billion in lost tax revenue each year from offshore tax dodges
WASHINGTON - Today, citing $100 billion in revenue drained from the U.S. Treasury at the [...]
