BANKS BRACED FOR 1BN WINDFALL TAX December 6, 2009 CHANCELLOR Alistair Darling was this weekend mulling a £1bn windfall tax on the banks as part of a “class war” strategy to depict the Tories as a party for the “rich”. The windfall tax, versions of which were still being worked on by officials last night, is likely to be for a year only and [...]
Battle lines drawn for pre budget report December 6, 2009 CHANCELLOR Alistair Darling faces his toughest week yet at the helm of the Treasury as he prepares to deliver the 2009 Pre-Budget Report (PBR) to Parliament on Wednesday. He is likely to downgrade his forecast for 2009 GDP – admitting the UKshrank much more than he predicted – but City economists expect him to hold [...]
High earners set to be hit by new taxes December 1, 2009 FOR those bankers who had become a tad complacent, I have some news for you: the Tories are still not ruling out a windfall tax on banks if their behaviour doesn’t conform to what is expected of them on pay and lending. I asked Mark Hoban, a key member of George Osborne’s shadow treasury team, [...]
MPC member moots a housing bubble tax December 1, 2009 BANK of England policymaker Adam Posen yesterday called for taxes on British homeowners like capital gains tax and stamp duty to be hiked in line with house price inflation, in a bid to prevent another housing bubble. Interest rates are too blunt an instrument to prevent boom and bust in the housing market, Posen said. [...]
Lib Dems revise mansion tax November 30, 2009 THE Liberal Democrats have doubled the threshold at which they want homeowners to pay an annual “mansion tax”. Properties will now have to be worth at least £2m to incur a one per cent charge – the previous plan was to charge 0.5 per cent a year on properties worth more than £1m. Party leader [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 24, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMESRECOVERY TREND AT ICGIntermediate Capital Group, one of Europe’s largest mezzanine lenders, inched back into profit in spite of further provisions on loans to struggling companies, such as Gala Coral, the betting group. The financial crisis has taken its toll on ICG. The London-listed company was forced to repair its overstretched balance sheet by [...]
Pre-budget tax rises are likely to hit City workers November 24, 2009 WE HAVE all become accustomed to woe-filled stories about the economy. Last week’s headlines included news of a budget deficit of over £11bn for the month, or £87bn in the fiscal year to date. Attempts to bridge the gap through better enforcement of existing tax laws may not be helping – rumours suggest that HM [...]
Dyson’s kids clean up cash November 8, 2009 SIR James Dyson, the man who pioneered the bagless vacuum cleaner, has given £45m of his fortune to his three children. Each of the Dyson offspring, all in their thirties, have received £15m from a shares deal, according to documents filed at Companies House. The Dyson company bought back shares for £150m in February 2008 [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS November 8, 2009 Jones Lang LaSalleJones Lang LaSalle’s Sustainability Services team has appointed Erin Karsten as EMEA technical sustainability consultant. Karsten was formerly a senior programme manager with the firm. Her new role will involve developing delivery of Downstream services and will act as a single point of contact for the region. The role will also involve working [...]
Widows sales are a drag on Lloyds results November 3, 2009 SCOTTISH Widows, the insurance and pensions arm of Lloyds Banking Group, yesterday said sales slumped over the first three quarters of 2009 as customers shunned its products. In an interim statement timed to coincide with official confirmation of its exit from the government’s asset protection scheme and the launch of a £21bn capital raising programme, [...]