Carbon reduction scheme faces axe if reform fails March 21, 2012 THE GOVERNMENT may adopt an alternative environmental tax to replace its scheme to cut corporate energy use if it cannot reduce the scheme’s red tape and admin costs, chancellor George Osborne said in his Budget statement. The so-called Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) was devised under the Labour government but was yesterday slammed as “cumbersome” and [...]
50p rate taxpayers should utilise their fleeting allowance March 21, 2012 BUDGETS are rarely driven by economic sense. More often than not politics triumphs over clarity. And the coalition, like all previous governments, tried to manage expectations – threatening in the lead up to yesterday to tinker with the rules on additional rate taxpayers’ relief on pensions, only to leave the rules unchanged. As such, no [...]
London will be hit hardest by levy increase March 21, 2012 IN YESTERDAY’S budget, chancellor George Osborne increased the stamp duty land tax rate to 7 per cent for residential properties over £2m as well as introducing a stamp duty land tax of 15 per cent for residential properties worth more than £2m purchased by companies and other entities. As Paul Emery, PwC tax director, points [...]
There was some good news in this timid Budget but we need a strategy for growth March 21, 2012 IT’S hard to work out where George Osborne draws his lines in the sand. But, in so far as he draws them anywhere, yesterday’s Budget indicates he doesn’t always draw them in the right places. So, while there were some welcome steps in taxation policy, it seems nearly impossible to detect a coherent strategy. Initially, [...]
Amazon’s gorilla warfare teaches a tactical lesson March 21, 2012 PUBLISHING is full of contradictions. Over the last decade, business book publishers have been full of advice they never followed themselves. The industry that brought us the handbook for the digital age, The Long Tail, didn’t attend to its prediction that mass markets would fragment into thousands of micro markets. Did You Spot The Gorilla, [...]
Romney’s rivals won’t quit as his lead grows March 21, 2012 DAYS before voters in Illinois went to the polls, Rick Santorum described November’s presidential election as “the most important since 1860.” Absurd historical analogies are usually more Newt Gingrich’s thing, but Santorum got one thing right. His candidacy for the presidency, like Abraham Lincoln’s over 150 years ago, is now history. Even with a victory [...]
RAPID RESPONSES March 21, 2012 Red-handed Ken [Re: Ken Livingstone is blameless in his tax planning, yesterday] Doug Richard misses the point in his article regarding Ken Livingstone’s tax affairs. No criticism has been made of the practice of an individual setting themselves up as a business to regulate their income. All the condemnation of Livingstone stems from his past [...]
Compliance isn’t the easy path to fortune March 21, 2012 A RECENT Thomson Reuters survey of 500 compliance officers at financial services firms emphasised two things about the extraordinary growth in the importance of the profession in today’s job market. Firstly, it showed how lucrative compliance roles have become – 70 per cent expected the cost of senior compliance staff to be higher in 2012. [...]
JOBS of the WEEK March 21, 2012 Technical specialist Central London £600-£750 per day A Solvency II expert, with an excellent understanding of Pillar 3, is needed to build and develop templates in the insurance and buy side markets. www.cityamcareers.com/job/7390 Senior compliance manager Central London £Market rate The successful candidate will be required to lead a team of managers, have in-depth technical [...]
MBA alumni networks can boost your career March 21, 2012 FOLLOWING a Masters of Business degree (MBA), graduates might be forgiven for forgetting their school and forging headlong into the workplace. The promises made for MBA study are career progression and increased earnings and students will want to take their new skills directly into a job and see rapid return from their significant financial investment. [...]
