Government wrong to demonise generous philanthropists April 13, 2012 IT has become increasingly difficult to understand what the coalition government is up to. Take its decision to demonise those who donate large amounts to charity, depicting them in a grossly unfair manner as tax avoiders who should be ashamed of themselves. This is an astonishingly stupid and nasty thing to imply. The government claims [...]
Government wrong to demonise generous philanthropists April 12, 2012 IT has become increasingly difficult to understand what the coalition government is up to. Take its decision to demonise those who donate large amounts to charity, depicting them in a grossly unfair manner as tax avoiders who should be ashamed of themselves. This is an astonishingly stupid and nasty thing to imply. The government claims [...]
Government fails the moral code it is now demanding of taxpayers April 12, 2012 IT IS difficult to think of an issue that has generated more self-righteous moralising by politicians of all parties than the recent furore over “abusive” tax avoidance. Some of the pronouncements emanating from Westminster would lead one to believe that tax avoidance is one of the great crimes of our age. Except it’s not a [...]
We need an open contest to decide who will run the Bank April 12, 2012 THERE is no doubt that George Osborne’s most important decision over the next few months will be who he appoints as the next governor of the Bank of England. That job, which becomes vacant next year, is by a huge distance the most powerful unelected position in the UK; its formal powers now span monetary [...]
We need an open contest to decide who will run the Bank April 11, 2012 THERE is no doubt that George Osborne’s most important decision over the next few months will be who he appoints as the next governor of the Bank of England. That job, which becomes vacant next year, is by a huge distance the most powerful unelected position in the UK; its formal powers now span monetary [...]
UK tries out real-time tax scheme April 11, 2012 A PILOT for a new real-time information system was launched by HM Revenue and Customs yesterday in an effort to cut down on over- and under-payments of income tax. The scheme is designed to reduce errors in the pay as you earn (PAYE) system when workers change jobs, which HMRC hopes will save employers £300m [...]
Why Britain’s income tax system is already astonishingly progressive April 9, 2012 IF YOU want to say that something is too high or too low, you need to know its current level first. For instance, imagine a survey that suggests a majority of the public wants government to increase spending on defence. I would be immediately sceptical of such findings for two reasons. Firstly, the responder is [...]
A new tax year: Start it as you mean to go on April 9, 2012 GOOD intentions are rarely in short supply, but most people are running huge deficits in acting on them. As always, the lead-up to the end of the last financial year saw a last-minute flurry of activity, with people rushing to sort out their tax, pensions and Isas. Old habits die hard, but it would pay [...]
Advice for budding businesses April 1, 2012 ACCOUNTING ACCOUNTING is an unloved but essential discipline for entrepreneurs. Businesses that fail to keep the financial score are flying blind. Record and track your results to monitor your financial status. Measure sales, costs and working capital. Identify the key performance indicators (KPIs) that will keep your business on track, including orders, sales and gross [...]
Storage tax to backfire March 22, 2012 BIG Yellow Group’s stock plunged four per cent on the Budget’s surprise announcement that self-storage units could from October no longer be exempt from value added tax. In the name of correcting VAT anomalies and closing loopholes, Osborne outlined that self-storage will be taxed as other forms of storage and no longer be classed as [...]