Asian financial markets and regulatory bodies need to understand and learn from the mistakes of the West or risk having their own interests trampled upon, said the chief executive of Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission.
One of the world’s richest and most successful investors has reiterated calls for a so-called Buffett-tax, or a minimum tax rate on millionaires, arguing that higher taxes would not stop the wealthy from investing.
In a New York Times Op-ed, Buffett, who has a net worth of $46 billion, advocated that taxable income between $1 million and $10 million should be taxed at a minimum rate of 30 percent, and income above $10 million should be taxed at 35 percent.
Russia may be discreetly propping up Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria by helping to print bank notes that pays for Assad’s soldiers and civil servants, claimed investigative website ProPublica on Monday, citing flight records, which detailed cargo shipment from Moscow’s Vnukovo airport to Damascus international airport via Iran and/or Iraq.
US consumer spending is likely to decline by $200 billion in 2013 if automatic tax increases – affiliated with the so-called ‘fiscal cliff’ – come into effect at the beginning of next year, said a report commissioned by the White House on Monday, as pressure mounts on Congress to reach a budget deal compromise by December 31st.
Biofuels derived from corn were once considered a sustainable energy alternative: Clean, green and renewable. But is this just another marketing myth?
Corn was first subsidised in the late ‘70s as a fossil fuel alternative but it has turned out to be an inefficient source of fuel. For starters, corn ethanol consumes 6 times more energy than it produces and emits greenhouse gases at a higher rate than gasoline. Yet, the US pays $10 to $30 billion dollars each year in farm subsidies to produce even more of it, despite not having any clear benefit to consumers.
Officials from the White House and Congress will resume negotiations over the so-called fiscal cliff this week and President Barack Obama has said he is confident that a new US budget deal can be secured. Meanwhile, EU officials meet in Brussels on Monday to decide if Greece should be allowed access to some 44 billion euros of financial aid.
Monday, November 26
Eurozone finance ministers meet for the third time in two weeks for talks on unlocking the next slice of aid to debt-crippled Greece, which is in danger of running out of money.
The Philippines is losing as much as 30 billion pesos ($731 million) a year in potential tax revenues as a result of oil smuggling activities, claimed a Shell representative over the weekend, with close to 30-35 percent of oil products sold in the Filipino market believed to have been illegally brought into the country.
UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne may have little choice but to announce further spending cuts and tax rises during next week’s national budget statement, warned a leading economic think-tank on Sunday, as the nation’s net debt continues to climb amid weak economic forecasts.
Switzerland could soon scrap tax breaks for wealthy foreigners after Swiss socialists and labour unions succeeded in putting the country’s 150 year-old tax law up to a popular vote.
Opponents of the “scandalous” tax break have collected more than the 100,000 signatures needed for a parliamentary debate and national referendum, the Federal Council said in a statement on Thursday.
Catalans are expected to vote pro-independence parties into power this Sunday, giving them legitimacy to hold an independence referendum in two to three years time. Catalonia, in northern Spain, has an economy equivalent to the size of Portugal, believes it would be financially better off without the rest of Spain.
The secessionist threat is a major problem for Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who is trying to keep Spain in the eurozone and avoid an international bailout, despite a ravaging recession that has led to record levels of unemployment.
