Announcement follows years of tax evasion scandals involving BVI shell companies
The government of the British Virgin Islands has finally committed to introducing public registers of beneficial ownership for companies incorporated in the tax haven.
The announcement, made in the islands parliament, comes in the wake of years of tax evasion and money laundering scandals, in which shell companies incorporated in the territory regularly played a central role.
Continue reading...During the first presidential debate, Donald Trump was pressed on the New York Times story over his tax returns, which showed he paid only $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017. The president claimed he had paid “millions” in income taxes and said he would release his tax returns soon, which he has been saying since 2015.
Joe Biden said Trump 'does take advantage of the tax code' and 'pays less tax than a schoolteacher'. Trump shrugged off the criticism, saying all business leaders do the same 'unless they are stupid'. The exchange escalated with Biden telling his rival: 'You are the worst president America has ever had'
Error and fraud rate for scheme estimated at between 5% and 10%, says HMRC chief
The government believes it may have paid out up to £3.5bn in wrong or fraudulent claims for the furlough scheme.
Jim Harra, the top civil servant at HM Revenue & Customs, said that his staff had calculated for the possibility that as much as 10% of the money might have gone to the wrong places.
Continue reading...Several Conservative backbenchers argue that focus must be on supporting a continued economic recovery
The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has been urged not to introduce tax hikes in his November budget by Conservative backbenchers who argue they would damage economic recovery.
The intervention followed speculation the Treasury could raise £20bn through extra levies to deal with the fallout from Covid-19.
Continue reading...Recently introduced tax would have raised £500m, helping to reduce Britain’s huge Covid bill
The UK government is preparing to drop a recently introduced tax on global technology companies such as Facebook, Google and Amazon, due to fears that the so-called “Facebook tax” could jeopardise a post-Brexit trade deal.
Rishi Sunak is reportedly planning to ditch the digital services tax which was expected to generate about £500m to help pay towards the huge cost of the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Matt Hancock is advocate of plan to raise tax to cover cost of care in later life
Everyone over 40 would start contributing towards the cost of care in later life under radical plans being studied by ministers to finally end the crisis in social care, the Guardian can reveal.
Under the plan over-40s would have to pay more in tax or national insurance, or be compelled to insure themselves against hefty bills for care when they are older. The money raised would then be used to pay for the help that frail elderly people need with washing, dressing and other activities if still at home, or to cover their stay in a care home.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Group of 83 wealthy individuals demands ‘immediate, substantial and permanent’ higher taxes ‘on people like us’
A group of 83 of the world’s richest people have called on governments to permanently increase taxes on them and other members of the wealthy elite to help pay for the economic recovery from the Covid-19 crisis.
The super-rich members, including Ben and Jerry’s ice cream co-founder Jerry Greenfield and Disney heir Abigail Disney, called on “our governments to raise taxes on people like us. Immediately. Substantially. Permanently”.
Continue reading...As the UK faces what may be its worst ever recession, we begin a monthly series exploring the financial shock to business and living standards
One month after a national lockdown was declared in an attempt to limit the spread of Covid-19, it is clear that Britain is heading for the deepest recession in living memory.
Boris Johnson’s government launched unprecedented restrictions on 23 March, telling the British public that they must stay at home and bringing life as the nation knew it to an abrupt halt.
Continue reading...Thinktank praises Covid-19 response but says ‘splurge’ relies on already announced plans
Rishi Sunak’s first budget is not as generous as it seems and will leave many Whitehall departments worse off than they were before the spending squeeze began in 2010, according to Britain’s foremost economics thinktank.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies said the chancellor made the budget sound more substantial than it was, while relying on previously announced spending plans.
Continue reading...The 5% rate on sanitary products will end. Rishi Sunak also plans to ensure banks keep circulating cash
The chancellor will announce the abolition of the “tampon tax” in next week’s budget, marking the successful conclusion to a 20-year campaign by women’s rights activists.
Tampons and other women’s sanitary products currently have 5% VAT added to their price, but this will be scrapped, saving the average woman £40 over her lifetime. The tax will end when Britain leaves the EU at the end of December.
Continue reading...Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs and Michel Barnier’s Brexit speech
Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, says immigration is crucial for the Scottish economy. The Scottish government’s plans for a Scottish visa system have been welcomed by business and even Scottish Tories. Does the PM accept it was a mistake to reject the plan?
Johnson says this idea was rejected by the migration advisory committee. He says under the government’s plan firms will be able to get the workers they need.
Corbyn says he has learnt a lot from visiting victims of flooding. The PM should try it. He says people cannot get insurance. Isn’t it time the PM found an urgent solution to this problem? Just imagine what it must be like. People are looking to the government for help.
Johnson says there are problems with insurance. But the government scheme has helped many households. He says he is looking at what can be done to protect homes that cannot get insurance. He says any government led by Corbyn would not be able to help.
Continue reading...Proposal would have forced firms to reveal profits made and taxes paid in each EU country
Twelve EU countries, including Ireland, have blocked a proposed new rule that would have forced multinational companies to reveal how much profit they make and how little tax they pay in each of the 28 member states.
The proposed directive was designed to shine a light on how some of the world’s biggest companies – such as Apple, Facebook and Google – avoid paying an estimated $500bn a year in taxes by shifting their profits from higher-tax countries such as the UK, France and Germany to zero-tax or low-tax jurisdictions including Ireland, Luxembourg and Malta.
Continue reading...At launch of manifesto, PM says he will not raise income tax, VAT or national insurance for five years
Boris Johnson will commit a Tory government to not raise income tax, VAT or national insurance for five years as he promises to “put more money back in people’s pockets” after Brexit.
Launching the Conservatives’ general election manifesto on Sunday, the prime minister will also pledge to protect the value of state pensions, boost spending by £1bn on childcare during school terms and holidays, and cut energy bills by up to £750 a year for those in social housing.
Continue reading...‘Investment blitz’ promised as experts taken aback by scale of Labour’s tax and spend plans
Jeremy Corbyn has urged the public to vote for his “manifesto of hope” as he unveiled plans for the most dramatic increase in tax and spending in more than half a century if Labour wins power next month’s general election.
In an upbeat launch event at Birmingham City University, the Labour leader said he welcomed the hostility of the billionaires, bad bosses and dodgy landlords who would lose out from his policies.
Continue reading...PM’s apparent blunder over £12,500 threshold could benefit him amid ‘factchecking’ row
Boris Johnson has said he wants to raise the national insurance threshold to £12,500, letting slip a major Tory tax cut from the manifesto as he was speaking to workers in Teesside.
The prime minister blurted out the key announcement as he was pressed by an employee at a fabrication yard about whether he would help “people like us”, not just the rich.
Continue reading...The prime minister delivers the first big set-piece speech of the campaign as Labour pledges £26bn extra per year for NHS
That’s all from us for this evening. Thanks for reading and commenting. For a comprehensive rundown of the day’s events, see my colleague Andrew Sparrow’s daily election briefing:
Related: Andrew Sparrow's election briefing: Johnson won't change Brexit stance to please Farage
Related: Boris Johnson heckled over floods but does not apologise for 'slow response'
Hoey also said complained that MPs had spent the last two years trying to thwart Brexit, telling LBC:
We’ve had two years of parliament – a remain parliament – doing everything they can to stop us leaving; by different methods and some not so serious as others. But most of the Labour MPs in there and a substantial number of Conservatives have tried to stop it.
Continue reading...Returning infrastructure investment to 1970s levels may be undeliverable, says IFS
Labour and the Conservatives have triggered a public spending bidding war, promising massive programmes of borrowing that will return public investment to levels last seen in the 1970s, according to Britain’s leading experts on the public finances.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies said plans unveiled by Sajid Javid, the chancellor, and John McDonnell, his Labour shadow, would represent a decisive break with the past, but warned that a future government might have trouble delivering projects on the scale envisaged.
Continue reading...Wealthy see potential taxes imposed by Jeremy Corbyn as bigger threat than Brexit
The super-rich are preparing to immediately leave the UK if Jeremy Corbyn becomes prime minister, fearing they will lose billions of pounds if the Labour leader does “go after” the wealthy elite with new taxes, possible capital controls and a clampdown on private schools.
Lawyers and accountants for the UK’s richest families said they had been deluged with calls from millionaire and billionaire clients asking for help and advice on moving countries, shifting their fortunes offshore and making early gifts to their children to avoid the Labour leader’s threat to tax all inheritances above £125,000.
Continue reading...Private equity company 8 Miles channels funds through Mauritius in a ‘depressingly routine’ arrangement
At their closest point, Europe and Africa are just eight miles apart. That’s the inspiration for the name of Sir Bob Geldof’s private equity firm, 8 Miles, set up to channel investment into successful businesses in Africa.
But we learned last week that 8 Miles’ cash travels considerably further than this on its way from one continent to the other. It has established a cluster of companies in Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean, which funds pass through.
Continue reading...Proposals by the international development secretary, Penny Mordaunt, to refocus UK aid towards for-profit investment risks weakening support for the people who need our help the most, and compromising the work Britain does to make the world a safer, healthier and more just place to live in (Report, 30 January). The Department for International Development has a long-standing history and reputation as a world leader in helping millions of people worldwide to access clean water, healthcare, better jobs and education. DfID’s focus on ending extreme poverty has secured a global reputation that Britain is proud of and one which we continue to champion. Any move to expand the role of private investment in international development must reflect the basic and shared human values underlying charity, humanitarian aid and development, and not prioritise the pursuit of profit over tackling poverty.
Claire Godfrey
Head of policy and campaigns at Bond, which represents over 400 UK NGOs working in humanitarian aid and development
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