I have been musing on why the UK government is proposing to do such a disastrous deal with the Swiss government. A deal so bad that one of my usual critics from the Isle of Man has said: Richard, I rarely agree with you, but on this occasion I have to admit that everything you
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My, so far, invariably reliable sources on all things Isle of Man have told me that HM Treasury has called in the Isle of Man and they have been told to renegotiate their VAT sharing agreement, again. Only one direction of movement is being considered – and that’s downwards as far as the Isle of
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My sources tell me that: The European commission has realised that the [proposed UK and German] DTAs [with Switzerland]  would compromise the EU work on automatic exchange of info. Now the Commission has been in direct touch with Germany and UK regarding this issue. Most important is that they are concerned about Switzerland now being
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Johann Hari, who I’ve never met but admire has written a great editorial comment for the Independent under the above title. The evidence is drawn from the tiny initial protests against the Vietnam war. The analogy is with the Vodafone protests. Vodafone won’t pay more tax as a result of them. But they express the
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Singapore is the world’s eighth most corrupt nation, according to the Tax Justice Network’s rankings. It is a haven for secrecy and one of the biggest, and fastest-rising, sinks for illicit, tax evading and criminal loot from developing and other countries around the world. Just look here to see some of the things that Singaporeans
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I note that TaxNews.com reported last week that: The Isle of Man parliament last week approved two separate sets of regulations modernizing the island’s company law. Firstly, the company law was amended to change the obligation on private companies to hold annual general meetings; and to change the types of business that can be conducted
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Who said this?: For all the clever innovation in the financial system, its Achilles heel was, and remains, simply the extraordinary – indeed absurd – levels of leverage represented by a heavy reliance on short-term debt. And this? The real failure was a lapse into hubris – we came to believe that crises created by
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Want to know more about the Vodafone tax story? Parmy Olson has given a good guide to it in Forbes on her return from maternity leave (congrats Parmy). OK, it’s pretty clear if you read her story she talked to me quite a lot when preparing the story – but she has pulled the themes
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The ConDems claim “we’re all in this together. Like hell. As the Guardian notes: Britain’s bosses have been accused of greed and ignoring economic reality after boardroom pay leapt by 55% over the last year. FTSE 100 directors saw their total earnings soar in the 12 months to June, thanks to sharp rises in bonuses
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