Labour’s rejection of conventional economic theory ignores important insights November 27, 2019 One of the first tasks facing whoever becomes chancellor after the General Election will be choosing the next governor of the Bank of England. Getting to make this choice would be a key step in the plans of Labour’s shadow chancellor John McDonnell to shake up the Bank of England, but his radicalism is not [...]
Boris Johnson is right to delay corporation tax cuts November 21, 2019 Boris Johnson showed a lot of guts to go to the CBI Conference and announce that he was delaying a planned corporation tax cut in order to fund public services. This was a speech which was long overdue. Since 2010, governments have given away corporation tax cuts worth over £60bn. This figure doesn’t include the [...]
What is IR35? Everything you need to know about the tax coming to the private sector November 6, 2019 After rolling out into the public sector in April 2017, HMRC’s controversial IR35 tax is set to hit private sector contractors in 2020. And it promises to cost workers a big chunk of change: one estimate suggests contractors could pay 25 per cent more in tax. Self-employed contractors are now grappling with the legislation, which [...]
Tax cuts could do for our economy today what the Reformation did 502 years ago October 31, 2019 On this day in 1517, German monk Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of All Saints’ church in Wittenberg. In so doing, Luther set in motion a series of events which would have a dramatic impact on the political landscape of Europe, transform the economy, and alter the lives of ordinary people [...]
Longer prison sentences given out for tax evasion October 14, 2019 Prison sentence lengths for tax evasion rose by 10 per cent on average last year as the taxman pushed for tougher punishments to dodgng payments. The average sentence for the deliberate non-payment of tax rose to two years and seven months in 2018 – an increase of two months on 2017’s figures – according to [...]
Facebook pays just £28m in UK corporation tax in 2018 after sales worth almost £800m October 11, 2019 Facebook paid just £28m in UK corporation tax in 2018 according to its latest filing at Companies House. This is despite it having recognised sales worth £797m with a gross profit of £763.4m for the year. Read more: OECD targets tech giants as it shakes up global tax rules It is the latest example of [...]
The chancellor should deliver tax cuts, not more spending October 1, 2019 Sajid Javid used his major conference speech yesterday to announce a raft of new spending pledges. The chancellor’s focus was infrastructure and rural areas, with money promised for bus networks, roads, and the rollout of 5G. This sits alongside the strapline of this year’s Conservative party conference itself, which focuses on spending more on the [...]
Apple accuses EU of misunderstanding its business in €13bn court case September 18, 2019 Apple has accused the European Commission of misunderstanding its business as the tech giant’s appeal against a €13bn tax order entered its second day. The Commission had accused Apple of having dodged taxes and received illegal state aid from Ireland, ordering the company to pay a €13bn Irish tax bill in 2016. Read more: Apple [...]
Apple tells EU court €13bn Irish tax bill ‘defies reality and common sense’ September 17, 2019 An order by the European Commission for Apple to pay a €13bn (£11.5bn) Irish tax bill “defies reality and common sense”, the tech giant said today as it launched a challenge against the ruling. Apple accused the Commission of using its powers to fight state aid to “retrofit changes to national law” at a hearing [...]
Apple prepares to launch EU legal challenge over €13bn Irish tax bill September 16, 2019 Apple is set to launch a legal challenge tomorrow over an order by the European Commission to pay €13bn (£11.5bn) in Irish back taxes, as the EU seeks to crack down on tax avoidance by multinational companies. What’s the case about? The tech giant was accused of having dodged taxes and received €13bn illegal state [...]