Accountancy Age has noted that:
Private equity’s ‘failure to play the PR game’ has forced it on the defensive, the vice-chairman of the ICAEW corporate finance faculty, Ian Leaman, said ahead of today’s publication of the Walker report.
Why can’t the ICAEW, just for once, accept the possibility that spin is not the answer to everything and [...]
The Tax Justice Network UK has submitted evidence to the House of Common’s Treasury Select Committee examining private equity. I was author of the submission. The summary says:
This submission argues that private equity funds enjoy three unwarranted tax breaks. They usually do not pay tax on their capital gains, they receive excessive tax relief on [...]
The FT reports this morning that in the States:
Most experts believe that the carried interest paid to general partners in private equity firms and hedge funds should be viewed at least in part as income that should be subject to income tax, Peter Orszag, director of the US Congressional Budget Office said on Wednesday.
His reasoning [...]
It was suggested that I write a letter to the London Evening Standard yesterday in response to their support for Alastair Darling’s comments on private equity in the FT, on which I blogged. I was happy to meet the request that I do so. This is what got published today:
You leader on private equity misses [...]
I’ve known Alastair Darling’s style on Treasury issues for a long time - since before Labour came to power in 1997. So I’m not surprised that he has (according to the FT):
ruled out an immediate clampdown on tax privileges used by the private equity industry, fearing that any sudden changes might have undesirable effects on [...]
I was asked to make a video explaining private equity, and have. Visual quality is not quite as good as I would like - I think that’s due to making it during the early evening, but the message is clear. I hope it answers the questions that I was asked to address.
Alex Cobham is now a regular commentator for the Guardian newspaper in the UK.He has an article out today on private equity. He argues that
“The longer the government delays a crackdown on private equity tax-dodgers, the more divided a society we’ll become.”
I think he’s right.
I helped the Sunday Telegraph with a report out today on a charity called the Portland Trust promoted by Sir Ronald Cohen, a close adviser to Gordon Brown and the person seen as the ‘father’ of the UK private equity industry.As we reveal, this is a charity that in one year paid almost half its [...]
Two days out in Norway (of which more later) and a lot seems to have happened.
The private equity debate in parliament did not go as well as I hoped. We really do need people who understand tax there. It’s a disaster that we make politics such an unattractive job for first rate people. That said, [...]
I’ve spent much of today talking to journalists about private equity. After the weekends appearances in the press people see to have rumbled that I have some interest in the subject. So let me summarise what I’ve said are the key questions for this week’s Treasury select committee:
The first issue is that the BVCA wanted, [...]
