I am in Sheffield this morning to present a new draft paper that my colleague, Prof Andrew Baker and I are writing on an appraisal methodology for the impact of freeports, which relies on qualitative rather than quantitative data when one of the whole purposes of freeports is to create opacity that makes their quantitative impact hard to appraise.
Prior to doing that, however, at 12.30 I will be on the BBC Radio 2 Jeremy Vine programme, discussing taxation of the wealthy, up against a Tufron Street insider, no doubt.
Then, I move on to do an online presentation at the Addis Tax Initiative general assembly meeting on the importance of tax transparency and the work I am doing with Andrew Baker, the Global Initiative for Financial Transparency and International Budget Partnership on this issue.
I am not quite sure where lunch fits in today, but I reckon I will have earned it.
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More power to your elbow Richard. Those of us who live close to the new Forth Valley Freeport ( which is styled “Green” ) have more than a little trepidation about what will really emerge.
I share your concerns…..
I agree Jennie.
Can’t see what good it will do for us.
Can certainly see a lot of potential for harm.
Have you read Sissons and Brown on enterprise zones and the effect of the tax incentives offered?
They will give you good ideas on how to do a quantitative assessment, if the only reason you’re avoiding doing one is that it’s difficult.
I would always dispute that the data exists
The data that might be available will never reflect the reality of their existence because externalities and counter factual are not calculable
Thanks for doing it.
So sorry you had to discuss with an *****. So sorry that Jeremy Vine didn’t seem to give you a fair crack of the whip.
No wonder you sometimes sound a bit grumpy. I don’t know how you can stand it.
Jeremy is normally fairer than that….
the same old story about ‘the rich’ taking their money abroad.
John Caudwell, the billionaire switching his vote to Labour, in his interview with Chris Mason last night, was making the same point.
If the UK didn’t have the lowest of the G7, they might have a point but they don’t.
Jeremy is BBC to the core. I’m surprised he deigns to speak to you at all.
Hello richard i missed it, is it possible to listen in some way?
Bbc sounds app will have it
If I get a chance I will post it here – but it is a furiously busy day
starts at 6.42
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002033y
Thanks
I listened to your interview. I felt Jeremy Vine did a lot of talking over you and telling everyone what he thought you were saying, without letting you say it.
He came across as full of his own importance and not much else.
I thought you got some good points in, when you were allowed.
Thanks
It was a frustrating one
In my view Jeremy Vine always does that, just, usually not so much to Richard. I am afraid I think he is an opinionated, entitled pratt.
He did an item a while back on pensioners living in rented accommodation (shock, horror). He had a number of such pensioners on to tell their stories. He asked each one (effectively) what had gone wrong in their lives that they ended up renting. They all had a story, job loss, divorce, bereavement, poor financial decision making, etc. Not once did he, or anyone else, say I never earned enough to buy a house. It clearly had not occurred to him that renting is a normal, permanent way of life for many, many people. Presumably because to him and those like him, such people do not count.
Richard – I think your points came over well (in the time available) against an obvious conservative party apparatchik – the likes of which most of us are getting extremely bored of.
The argued adverse impact of the taxing wealth proposals need to be robustly and clearly countered. I wonder how you might get a platform for a longer more serious debate?
Hi Richard Just listened to the ‘interview–It must be extraordinally difficult to put over some coherent thoughts with the background chaos of Radio 2 sound!!’ However, I do think you were able to get most of your points over, even to us regular Radio 4 listeners. I do agree with some of your other commentators that now is the time to have a serious-dare I say it- Television discussion- about many of the arguments that you and others discuss but never appear on the regular MSM .
I must declare an interest here- I sent a ‘letter’ to the ‘Opinion Page’ of my local ‘rag’. I had to enrol my grand daughter’s help to send the ‘attachment’ and after reading it she said ‘-does anyone read these letters?’ I rushed down town, to buy the paper today, and of course it wasn’t printed, whereas pointless other drivel was. I must say, after my first irritation , I realised how much Richard must have to put up with.If anyone out there is interested I can send you a copy of the unpublished letter…. I have now mastered ‘attachments’!
PS, The topic of the letter was : whether there was ‘any money left’
Thanks, Ann.
A debate is not my power to demand. I take the opportunities I am given.
Please share the letter with me
And how does campaigning work? You try. Tthen you try again. And again. Then once more. Then you have another go….
.WHoop Whoop! Pedant alert.
…bored of….(?)
Hmmm…. I think ‘bored’ takes (should take) the ablative not the genitive in English English.
“Bored of’ is American isn’t it?
Does anybody care?
Probably not and it’s past bedtime……..