Taxman cracks down on builders February 23, 2014 Construction firms coughed up £122m in extra tax to Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) during the last year, according to accounting services group NoPalaver. The figure is a 55 per cent increase on the previous year, when only £78.9m was taken in extra tax. The charges are levied through the construction industry scheme, which [...]
SNP’s Salmond insists that Scotland could join EU February 17, 2014 Scottish first minister Alex Salmond insists that no EU member state has indicated it would block a move for a newly independent Scotland to join the political union. That clashes directly with European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso, who on the BBC's Andrew Marr show said that "it will be extremely difficult to get the approval [...]
Britain is now being taxed so much that the pips are squeaking February 6, 2014 BRITAIN has become dangerously reliant on a small-number of highly paid and wealthy individuals for its tax receipts. If these people decide to leave the UK, or for some reason suddenly earn or spend less money, the public finances would suffer disproportionately. That is one of the conclusions I draw from a fascinating report published [...]
Britain is now being taxed so much that the pips are squeaking February 5, 2014 BRITAIN has become dangerously reliant on a small-number of highly paid and wealthy individuals for its tax receipts. If these people decide to leave the UK, or for some reason suddenly earn or spend less money, the public finances would suffer disproportionately. That is one of the conclusions I draw from a fascinating report published [...]
Thirteen people facing charges over tax claims for film losses January 30, 2014 THIRTEEN people including seven investment bankers were charged yesterday over a film tax scheme that HMRC claims cheated the exchequer out of £2.5m. The Crown Prosecution Service said that the charges relate to two partnerships, through which the defendants allegedly conspired to submit false tax returns as far back as 2007 to claim tax relief [...]
Labour’s proposed tax grab will backfire even before it starts January 27, 2014 HERE is how Labour’s misguided, punitive and anti-growth 50p tax plan could backfire almost immediately. If the Tories go into the election promising to keep the top rate of tax as is, and Labour to increase it by 5p, and it continues to look like Ed Miliband will triumph in May 2015 (albeit on a [...]
Labour’s 50p tax populism ignores the most important debate of the century January 27, 2014 ED BALLS’S announcement that the 50 per cent top rate of income tax could make a comeback is an act of political opportunism devoid of any economic sense. Opinion polls may show that two-thirds of voters would support such a hike, but satisfying the politics of envy is a dangerous economic game. Raising the top [...]
The Labour party’s war on the better off is dreadful economics January 27, 2014 WHEN governments don’t like something, they tax it. Hence why we have “sin” taxes on alcohol, tobacco and various forms of pollution. Ed Balls’ announcement at the weekend that a Labour government would increase the top rate of tax to 50p – coming on top of his plan to hike corporation tax by 1p on [...]
The entrepreneurial economy is taking off but we’re yet to realise its potential January 21, 2014 AT THE launch of Global Entrepreneurship Week 2013, Vince Cable announced that “10 per cent of the UK workforce is engaged in entrepreneurship activity.” Then he ploughed on with his speech, leaving the audience wondering precisely what this was supposed to mean. After decades of being politely sidelined, entrepreneurship is political and economic orthodoxy. Few [...]
Migrant benefit reform: Doing the right thing for all of the wrong reasons January 20, 2014 YESTERDAY saw the government announce the latest in a line of restrictions on the benefits immigrants can claim. New jobless EU migrants will be denied access to housing benefit from April, and will only be able to claim Jobseeker’s Allowance for six months unless they have a “genuine” chance of work. This comes on top [...]