I mentioned yesterday that the IFS did not appear to think that wealth was a basis for charging tax. Now I know why. This is what the they say in their report on Taxation of Wealth and Wealth Transfers:
Given that the justification for double taxation is arguable and that inheritance tax currently raises less than [...]
The review entitled The Political Economy of Tax Policy that the Institute for Fiscal Studies commissioned as part of its Mirrlees review of the future of the UK tax system does not include the words ‘justice’, ‘tax havens’ or ‘offshore’.
Why is that?
Why make a fuss about the IFS? Simple: it’s dangerous. Take this form this week’s KPMG tax newsletter:
UK News
Institute for Fiscal Studies study recommends that standard rate of VAT should apply to everything
A leading economic think tank has suggested, as part of a wider review of tax system reform by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, [...]
The Sunday Times has reported that:
A partner at one the world’s biggest accountancy firms said: “By buying stolen data, tax authorities have encouraged anyone in a bank in Liechtenstein, Monaco or any other tax haven to sell private banking records for cash.
“Ethically and legally that is surely a highly questionable way to proceed.”
Not half as [...]
I thought I should give the above conference a plug. As the organisers say:
This conference on Political Philosophy and Taxation will address the issue of how the activities of the state should best be funded. The conference will bring together a number of leading political philosophers, as well as a number of other scholars working [...]
The FT has reported that:
Stephen Green, HSBC’s chairman, said the bank had seen signs of an economic slowdown in countries such as India and Vietnam, combined with rising inflation. Falling stock markets had hit demand for wealth management products in the region.
Is that the best the Rev Green can say about a crisis that might [...]
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Doesn’t this say it all?:
Historians will puzzle as to why a Labour chancellor slashed capital gains tax from 40% to 18% at the behest of private equity. Why did Britain oversee more tax havens than any other nation? Why were buy-to-let mortgages tax-deductible, puffing up the housing boom? Why was there an incomes policy for [...]
I found it extraordinarily depressing to read the Institute for Fiscal Studies press release on the reform of VAT issued last Friday. Its headline is this:
Abolishing zero and reduced rates of VAT would cut compliance and administration costs for business and government, interfere less with people’s spending decisions, and raise enough revenue both to improve [...]
A London lawyer has said:
We now live in a separate economy, we live on a separate level to the vast majority of people in the country. We don’t send our kids to the same schools, we have more choice over schools, we have more choice over health, we have more choice over where we live, [...]
It’s been a day for major stories. Another has just emerged from the UK’s Courts. The House of Lords, the UK’s highest court, this morning OVERTURNED the High Court’s ruling of April 2008 that the Director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) acted unlawfully when, acting on government advice, he terminated in December 2006 a [...]
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