The Benefits of a Banking GST for Australia
South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill has argued for broadening the GST base to include all financial services, something also floated by the Financial System Inquiry. The idea has merit, although the complexity of the issue makes assessing the consequences and...
Not too Big to Fail, but Nothing Learned
Do you remember the 2007-08 banking crash? In the build up to it, UK bankers made vast profits and their executives collected big bonuses. After the crash, taxpayers bailed them out, which led to increased government borrowing. We have all...
Tax Code Simplification Presidential Candidate-Style
One of the 17 presidential candidates recently said, “I can write a tax code in three pages.” Carly Fiorina is not alone among her fellow 2016 presidential contenders in advocating tax reform and simplification of the tax code. However, none...
Shadow Banking’s Global Reach
In August, the Financial Times reported that 11 Chinese shadow banks had written an open letter to the top party official in Hebei (河北) province asking for a bailout. Soon afterwards, Foreign Policy magazine ran a story headlined, “Shadow banking is killing China’s stock...
Implementing the ‘Plastax’ in the UK
Last month, England became the latest government – and last among members of the UK – to pass a policy to combat the recent rise in the use of disposable plastic shopping bags, in its case a five-pence charge for...
A Wale(s) of a Tax Strategy
Companies such as Apple, Starbucks, and Amazon are well known for legally using international law to their advantage when it comes to tax. Now a small Welsh town is mimicking their tactics. Independent traders in Crickhowell are moving their businesses...
The Potential in Splitting Australia’s GST into Two
The overflowing rubbish tips of Lagos, the Pacific Ocean garbage patch, and the huge electronic graveyard of Guiyu, China might seem irrelevant to Australia’s current debate over reforming the Goods and Services Tax. Yet all three of these far-flung places...
A Lesson in Fairness for a Retirement Savings System
Australia is engaged in an ongoing debate about the fairness of the superannuation system. Those on the highest incomes are extracting the greatest and an unfair advantage from tax benefits currently available. This problem of perception is inevitable in a...
The Latest South African Tax Proposals are Far-reaching
There was a time when, from a tax perspective, South Africa’s “mini budget” used to be a non-event. The main emphasis was on the annual budget speech delivered in February each year when they announced tax policy proposals. There was...
It Appears that India Will Give a Goods and Services Tax a Try
India is moving towards introducing a Goods and Services Tax (GST). The GST would be a multistage comprehensive value added tax (VAT) encompassing both goods and services. Given the federal structure of India and the fact that taxation powers have...
Paying to Pay for Something
Credit card surcharging is in the news. Apparently, consumers are going to benefit by new surcharge limits that will be imposed on retailers. However, what is surcharging? In addition, why does it need limits? Moreover, is surcharging a good or...
Finding the Middle Ground on Dividend Taxation
With tax reform back on the agenda, the future of dividend imputation remains uncertain. Allowed in Australia since 1987, dividend imputation ensures companies and shareholders don’t end up paying tax on the same income, commonly known as “double taxation”. It...
Australia’s GST Methodology has its Supporters, but also Detractors
Recently, the Economic Society of Australia polled 49 prominent Australian economists on the issue of GST reform. They asked each member of the panel whether they agreed with the following statement: Increasing government revenue collected through the Goods and Services...
The Australian Government Tackles Superannuation
The government has today accepted virtually all of the recommendations of the expert panel behind last year’s Financial System Inquiry. Clearly, we can argue about some, and people would prefer to pick and choose depending on their predilections, but rather...
The U.K. Government Crack Down on Tax Avoidance…Not So Much
Corporate tax policy says more about power than anything else does. Corporations seek to minimise the tax they pay – and, while governments ordinarily try to maximise their revenues, in the case of transnational corporations (TNCs) they understand that they...