Liebrary: Do income tax cuts for the rich make us all richer? Part 2: more dismal evidence to the contrary

[If you want to read Part 1 click here, but you don't need to] It was a former leading Labour politician, Peter Mandelson, who said “we are intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich”. A philosophy that has been followed doggedly by Labour and Conservatives alike for over 30 years. Ministerial claims of shock at tax avoidance and horror at excessive pay have been nothing but camouflage for this policy. Particularly since the cut in the top rate tax from 50% to 45%, in the March 2012 budget, government ministers have...

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Monopoly comes quickly in ConDem Britain

KJ tells Fee about a new version of the famous board game Monopoly - the unregulated free market edit...

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Payday lenders and loan sharks: a very British way of lending

Chris and KJ wonder why payday lenders get such an easy ride in the...

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Shareholders voting against executive pay: the marvel is not that the directors had their bonuses questioned, but that they had bonuses at all

"The marvel is not that the bear dances well, but that it dances at all."Russian proverb, on a performing bear in a circus.Remuneration committees have continued to thrust bonuses at their well paid bosses in spite of unremarkable and failing performances. The usual defence is that the bosses' contracts legally bind the companies to offer the bonuses. The question left unasked is why the remuneration committees wrote the contracts in this way.The remuneration committees say they take the advice of "compensation consultants" to ensure their...

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How collective switching can help households get a fairer deal on energy bills

By Lani Shamash, of thepeoplespower.co.uk, writing on the UK energy market. Mistrust, alienation and inertia. They’re consumer characteristics which have become synonymous with the UK energy industry as customers, the media and the government rail on a daily basis about the evils of the industry. We all talk about it, we all write about it, in fact I’d go as far as to say it’s a national pastime, a conversation topic so customary it’s become more of a Great British staple than the weather. After all, it’s not just isolated to the energy market,...

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The gang debate the safety of wave-and-pay cash-free systems

Consumers – and con artists – get behind contactless payme...

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Stop Britain’s biggest rip-offs, and no budget cuts or tax rises are required. Make sure you ask your candidate about them before you vote

Next time they knock on your door, ask them what they will do about some of Britain’s biggest rip-offs: tax dodging, housing, the banks, gas & electricity bills, and MP's pay. We’ve given you a few ideas to start you off...Tax evasion and avoidance: HMRC estimates that £35bn is dodged in tax. Nobody can know the actual figure, as so much secrecy surrounds tax dodging. Credible estimates put it at over £70bn. There is a huge and complex list of perfectly legal ways that corporations and the very rich can avoid tax – a bit like “claiming on expenses”...

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The gang discuss ways to solve the issue of party funding

Gatecrashing the party... donati...

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Tax Haven Britain - Bearer Shares and Disappearing Companies

By Richard Murphy, founder of the Tax Justice Network , director of Tax Research LLP, and author of The Courageous StateAlistair Darling, former Chancellor of the Exchequer, has said the UK is not a tax haven. That is not true. It is using any reasonable definition, including that which I proposed. I’ve already suggested one obvious reason why it is, which is the existence of the domicile rule, so let’s take a second example that is less obvious.This is the fact that the UK allows the issue of bearer shares....

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Chris and a monied chum debate revealing MPs' tax returns

Should he or shouldn't he...

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Bearer Shares: perfect for hiding your ownership of a company, profits and wrong-doing. Available in your favourite tax haven, the UK

George Osborne, the chancellor, expressed shock: “I was shocked to see that some of the very wealthiest people in the country have organised their tax affairs, and to be fair it’s within the tax laws".So, lets take a closer look at one of the provisions made available by Britain's legislators for the tax dodgers:Many people have heard of "bearer bonds" - a favoured currency of bad guys in movies seeking larger payoffs. Fewer have heard of "bearer warrants", and fewer still of "bearer shares". There are many respectable reasons for bearer...

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LIBOR Manipulation - how doping has spiked the lending market and robbed small businesses

Financial Innovation is the great 'unique selling point' of the City of London's financial services industry. We are told it is to hold on to these innovative companies and creative people that we must regulate that industry weakly and tax its top executives frugally. However, history has shown that financial innovation, in its search for innovative opportunity, allows no scam to be left untried. As any sporting bookie will tell you, you make more money by successfully betting against the favourite in a contest than you make betting...

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Once again tax law is elasticated to aid, abet and reward tax dodging as General Anti-Abuse Rule is busted to Corporal.

Tax avoidance is an act between consenting adults: the avoider, and the taxman. The avoider breaks no laws only doing what the taxman does not disallow. “He didn’t say no” is the cast-iron defence accepted in the highest courts in the land. The avoider moves through the loopholes and the lacunae left, some meticulously and some incompetently, by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. In the words of St.Paul (Romans 4.15) “where no law is, there is no transgression”. To quieten post-budget outrage over his cutting millionaires' top rate tax while...

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