The hawk and the dove give their verdict February 21, 2013 Confusing Bank policy is failing to contain persistently high inflation MONETARY policy in the UK is becoming increasingly confusing. When the Bank of England assumed responsibility for setting interest rates in 1997, it was given a clear objective – keeping inflation on target at a low target level (retail price index, excluding mortgage interest payments [...]
Sorry savers: More easing is still needed to support UK recovery February 21, 2013 THE Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC) minutes of its meeting on 20 February make some very interesting reading. They suggest that the Committee is ready to adopt a more flexible approach to policy-making. And of particular interest is that, for an unprecedented fifth time, governor of the Bank of England Sir Mervyn King voted in the [...]
Taxing poor less won’t make them back hikes for rest February 21, 2013 ONE of the best ways to ease the tax burden on low earners is to increase the personal allowance, the amount you can earn before you start paying income tax. Letting people keep more of their own money is far better than taking it away in tax and giving it back in benefits. Fiscal churn [...]
Letters to the Editor February 21, 2013 Reform for growth [Re: Time to take drastic action to reboot Britain’s feeble economy, yesterday] Cutting corporation tax and capital gains tax will undoubtedly increase the incentive for risk-taking and investment, both prerequisites for growth. But other fundamental problems will remain. First, government spending is currently unaffordable. The required money cannot be raised from taxation [...]
The Debate: Would an EU cap on bankers’ pay damage London’s ability to attract the best talent? February 18, 2013 YES Eamonn Butler The latest EU proposals to fix bonus rates will strangle the life out of the City of London. Perhaps that is part of the intention: other EU financial centres envy London’s superiority. Pay policy is a key part of attracting and retaining the top-rate staff that City firms need to run their [...]
Letters to the Editor February 18, 2013 The capital's roads [Re: Congestion charge after ten years: it’s time to be bolder, yesterday] Baroness Valentine is right that the congestion charge scheme could be bigger, bolder and more sophisticated. But this is unlikely to be acceptable to motorists, or to deliver sustainable improvements to the quality of roads in London, given our existing [...]
Sugar drinks levy: More interference won’t end obesity February 18, 2013 AMONG the ten point plan published yesterday by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges in its “prescription for the nation’s medical crisis”, the headline-grabber was a tax on sugary drinks. An additional 20 per cent charge “would be an experimental measure, looking at price elasticity, substitution effects, and to what extent it impacts upon consumption [...]
Frontline Economics: The 10p rate is pure politics – let’s raise people out of income tax altogether February 18, 2013 MILTON Friedman once said, “I am in favour of cutting taxes under any circumstances and for any excuse, for any reason, whenever it’s possible.” I agree, particularly for taxes on income. There is a strong moral case for easing the burden, especially now the cost of living is rising above nominal wages. Yet Ed Miliband’s [...]
Britain’s Facebook is already here but we lack the tools to identify it February 18, 2013 IT’S been described as “the $4.2 trillion (£2.7 trillion) opportunity”. According to the Boston Consulting Group, there will be 3bn internet users globally by 2016. If it were a nation, the internet-based economy would rank in the world’s top five. And the UK sits at the forefront, with 8.3 per cent of GDP now online [...]
Our sprawling permanent state is a disaster for the UK’s public services February 17, 2013 OF ALL the pejorative terms applied to the banking industry, “vampire squid” is my favourite. It’s uniquely expressive, describing a malign organism that extends its tentacles into all the crevices of its host, while draining it of resources. Expressive though it is, applying the term to the banks is mistaken. Britain’s real “vampire squid” is [...]