EU Commission to investigate Amazon’s Luxembourg tax deal September 15, 2013 ONLINE retailer Amazon could be dragged into the European Commission’s investigation into US multinational businesses with so-called sweetheart tax deals with national governments. The European competition authority launched its probe into the tax arrangements of these companies following the revelation that US companies were basing their taxable operations in Ireland for preferential tax arrangements. Last [...]
Bavarians give Merkel mixed results as national vote looms September 15, 2013 WITH only a week until Germany’s federal election, a regional vote in Bavaria saw better results than expected for the country’s main opposition party. The Christian Social Union (CSU), part of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party, stormed to an expected victory with around half of the vote. But the region’s social democrats performed better than expected, [...]
Ofcom will take over delayed auction of 4G September 15, 2013 THE MINISTRY of Defence (MOD) will delay the sale of valuable 4G spectrum to mobile operators by two years as it hands over management of the sale to Ofcom, the MOD has announced. The minister for defence equipment, support and technology, Philip Dunne, quoted Ofcom’s experience in handling similar auctions as the reason for the [...]
France under pressure to make further cuts to meet its targets September 15, 2013 THE EUROPEAN Commission and rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) piled pressure on France yesterday to overhaul its finances more rigorously after the EU gave the Socialist government more leeway to meet targets. French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici has said the Eurozone’s second-biggest economy cannot be reformed any faster, fending off criticism that it is [...]
Nuclear power backed by Lib Dem conference September 15, 2013 TURNING back on a long-term rejection of new nuclear power plants, the Liberal Democrats confirmed yesterday that they will now back the new generation of infrastructure. The party’s annual conference in Glasgow voted in favour of a limited support of nuclear energy for the first time yesterday. The Lib Dems have historically rejected [...]
Clegg slammed for slapping 5p tax on supermarket plastic bags September 15, 2013 NICK Clegg’s plan for a 5p charge on plastic bags was yesterday branded unworkable, as critics said the plan was a distraction that would be difficult to enforce. The Deputy Prime Minister announced on Saturday that the policy had won coalition backing to introduce the charge in England from 2015, in an attempt to cut [...]
Party targets no income tax for workers on minimum wage September 15, 2013 NICK Clegg yesterday said his party would seek to lift all minimum wage workers out of income tax if his party remains in power after the 2015 general election. The Liberal Democrat leader refused to set out guaranteed policy pledges at this stage but insisted “tax fairness” would be a key matter during negotiations in [...]
Red face for Pat as Royal Mail doesn’t deliver September 15, 2013 IT SEEMS that things are going from bad to worse for postal giant the Royal Mail. Not only did Twitter upstage the British postal service last week, by announcing it was to float just hours after the Mail delivered the news that it was to go private. But now there is yet another reason for [...]
Fraud levels up in the wake of the downturn September 15, 2013 FRAUD levels have surged since the start of the recession, costing the British economy more than £85bn a year, research out today shows. The study found that between 2007 and 2011, the amount of money lost through fraud jumped from 4.57 per cent of spending to 5.47 per cent. BDO and the University of Portsmouth, [...]
Manufacturers warn that rising energy bills may harm recovery September 15, 2013 THE UK Government must keep electricity prices low and cut regulatory red tape from green policies to keep the economic recovery on track, according to manufacturers’ organisation EEF. In a new industry analysis released today, EEF warned that a growing number of medium-sized businesses are facing rising costs that are out of line with their [...]
