Britain is becoming an increasingly anti-libertarian society November 28, 2012 WELCOME to Britain, a land where rules, regulation and taxes are one of the few growth industries. In recent days, the government has decided that companies will no longer be allowed to decide freely at which price they can sell alcohol – there will be a minimum price, hurting those who enjoy two-for-one deals. Our [...]
Who’s switching jobs November 28, 2012 Aviva Phil Pavitt has been appointed to the role of IT transformation director at the insurance group. He joins from HMRC, where he was general director of change. Pavitt has also held chief information officer positions at Centrica, Virgin Media and BT. MasterCard Will Judge has been appointed vice president for travel and transit. He [...]
Trust a trust to protect your child’s education November 25, 2012 SINCE 2002, private school fees have risen at 1.8 times the rate of inflation. The average cost today is £11,500 per year, up from £6,800 in 2002. Private education is becoming more of a luxury, and it may be a good idea to find a more innovative solution than relying on your Christmas bonus. A [...]
What the other papers say this morning November 21, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Man Group gains from prototype Man Group, the world’s second largest hedge fund manager, has shifted $1.5bn (£940m) of its flagship computerised fund AHL into an experimental new portfolio to boost ailing returns. The new vehicle, which Man has internally dubbed “evolution”, has made 18 per cent so far this year, and made [...]
Taxman missing out on billions because of avoidance schemes November 21, 2012 A CRACKDOWN on tax avoidance schemes raked in an additional £200m for the government in the last year, according to estimates published yesterday by the National Audit Office (NAO). But HM Revenue and Customs is still missing out on £5bn from continued tax avoidance – that is, “using the tax law to get a tax [...]
We must ditch unfair loopholes – and then cut tax overall November 19, 2012 BRITAIN’S corporation tax system is broken. It is arbitrary, opaque, incomprehensible and unfair. At best, it is uncompetitive compared with other countries, such as Ireland; at worst it is a complete nightmare of complications and distorted incentives. Britain’s tax system is one of the worst things about the UK: It needs to be smashed up [...]
We must ditch unfair loopholes – and then cut tax overall November 18, 2012 BRITAIN’S corporation tax system is broken. It is arbitrary, opaque, incomprehensible and unfair. At best, it is uncompetitive compared with other countries, such as Ireland; at worst it is a complete nightmare of complications and distorted incentives. Britain’s tax system is one of the worst things about the UK: It needs to be smashed up [...]
Taxing times for Britain’s start-ups November 18, 2012 YOU’VE found your niche, you’ve written your business plan, you’ve arranged suitable financing. Surely that’s the hard part done? All that remains is the difficult work of growing your company, making your sales, and pleasing your customers. Unfortunately, it’s not true. Before a business is even registered, every entrepreneur becomes enmeshed in Britain’s complex, opaque, [...]
We need a new entrepreneurial revolution to rescue Britain November 15, 2012 IT is all too easy to despair about everything that is wrong with Britain. But one ray of light is our slow-burning, yet increasingly profound shift towards becoming a more entrepreneurial society. Britain counts 4.8m private firms, 99.9 per cent of which are small to medium-sized businesses (SMEs). Most are micro businesses. The rise of [...]
Taxman to pay out billions to multinationals November 14, 2012 PROMINENT UK-based multinational firms are on the cusp of receiving enormous payouts from the Treasury after a European court yesterday ruled in their favour on a landmark tax case. Lawyers now say the total bill owed by the government could reach billions of pounds, depending on how many applications follow the decision. In a test [...]