Yuan un-pegging to lift markets before Budget June 20, 2010 News at the weekend that China is to ease the yuan’s peg to the US dollar will be a boost to stock markets everywhere this morning, in the expectation that the move would prove a major lift to exporters. FTSE SET TO OPEN HIGHER GFT is forecasting the UK’s FTSE 100 to open up 35 [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 17, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES UGANDA TAX ROW DELAYS HERITAGE SALE OF OIL FIELD Uganda is insisting that Heritage Oil, the UK-listed oil explorer, must agree to pay $360m (£243m) in capital gains tax on the “super profits” it will make on a $1.35bn oilfields sale before it will sanction the deal. Uganda’s energy minister said the government [...]
Lord Sugar warns rise in CGT would devastate enterprise June 17, 2010 ONE of the UK’s best known entrepreneurs yesterday spoke of the potentially “devastating” effects of the proposed capital gains tax (CGT) hike on levels of enterprise in the country. Lord Sugar, the Labour peer and Apprentice star, slammed the coalition’s plan to bring CGT into line with income tax, claiming the move would deincentivise those [...]
Budget fears focus on CGT and NI burden June 17, 2010 ENTREPRENEURS will be holding their breath as the new Chancellor delivers his first budget next week. Changes to capital gains tax (CGT), Vat and National Insurance are top concerns. On a positive note, some commentators believe that entrepreneurs have nothing to worry about. Alex Henderson, tax partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, says that he is anticipating: “An [...]
Get more bang for your buck in green, spacious Hackney June 17, 2010 THERE aren’t many areas of London where less than a million pounds can get you an original Victorian house with four bedrooms, close access to three parks, independent shops and a commute under 20 minutes. In London Fields, however, the asking price for such a lifestyle is often no more than £800,000. Despite its trendy [...]
Protect your descendants from the axe of the taxman June 17, 2010 AHEAD of the general election, there was plenty of chatter about the Conservatives’ pledge to raise the inheritance tax (IHT) threshold to £1m. But the importance of appeasing the Liberal Democrats has superseded the need to appeal to the Tory heartland. The threshold is expected to remain at £325,000 for an individual and £650,000 for [...]
TV purchases boost retail sales in May June 17, 2010 FOOTBALL-CRAZY Britons splashing out on new televisions ahead of the 2010 World Cup gave retail sales a much-needed boost in May. The healthy 0.6 per cent gain last month contradicted the surveys from the CBI and the British Retail Consortium (BRC), which pointed to much weaker growth in sales. The Office of National Statistics (ONS) [...]
Private equity industry will fight CGT hike June 16, 2010 CONCERNS are mounting in the business world over the scope of the government’s proposed hikes to capital gains tax (CGT), as lobbying intensified ahead of the emergency Budget next week. The latest form of income to come under the spotlight is the so-called “carried interest”, or share of profits, that private equity bosses receive as [...]
Retirement age in France to rise to 62 June 16, 2010 FRENCH citizens face two more years of slogging away at work until they can retire, under new pensions system reforms unveiled by the country’s government yesterday. France plans to raise its minimum retirement age to 62 by 2018, from its current threshold of 60. The government will also increase taxes for top earners, targeting capital [...]
Osborne must show his true colours June 15, 2010 THERE will be plenty of banker-bashing from George Osborne when he delivers his first Mansion House speech to the City tonight. The audience of movers and shakers will barely notice; financiers are used to the abuse by now. Most of the proposals have been well trailed: a new levy on balance sheets (which could raise [...]