CLibertyC

France’s President Hollande finds loophole to impose 75% tax on the rich

"The 75% super-tax on the mega-rich, which was rejected by France's constitutional court might be imposed anyway. French President Francois Hollande suggests laying the burden on businesses rather than on individuals. In the interview with France 2 television President Hollande said he has revised his original plan to lay the massive tax on individuals earning above €1 million, which has been ruled 'unfair' and rejected by the Constitutional Court and later the State Councils, leaving the President embarrassed. Hollande will now propose to tax employers paying their workers more than €1 million. The measure, if approved, will last for two years." Continue reading →

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Ranking the States for Economic and Personal Freedom

"Here are the full rankings from the newly released Freedom in the 50 States from the Mercatus Center, showing North Dakota as the state with the most freedom, with South Dakota (#2), Tennessee (#3), New Hampshire (#4), and Oklahoma (#5) also deserving praise for high scores. What makes Freedom in the 50 States so interesting is that you can mix and match variables based on your own preferences. I checked the 'fiscal' and 'tax burden' categories, and South Dakota (no state income tax!) jumped to #1 for both of those measures. You won’t be surprised to learn that New York is the worst state, not only overall, but also for various fiscal policy measures." Continue reading →

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Amazon, Overstock Lose Challenge to N.Y. Web Sales Tax

"Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), the world’s biggest online retailer, and discount Internet seller Overstock.com Inc. (OSTK) lost a challenge to New York’s Internet sales tax law as the state’s highest court rejected their arguments that it was unconstitutional. Amazon, based in Seattle, and Overstock, based in Salt Lake City, sued the state’s Department of Taxation and Finance separately in 2008, seeking to overturn a law requiring retailers to pay taxes if they solicit business in New York through a link to a website. Justice Eileen Bransten dismissed the suits in January 2009. An appeals court in Manhattan affirmed her rulings in 2010, and the state Court of Appeals agreed today." Continue reading →

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Dead Letter Office: Even U.S. Government Doesn’t Use the U.S. Postal Service

"How bad is the United States Postal Service? In order to get a straight answer on this, ask the federal government. The federal government uses the Postal Service 2% of the time. Here is an agency that is so utterly incompetent that the United States government will not use it. How’s that for a testimonial? Here is an agency run by the government that the rest of the agencies regard as so utterly unreliable and expensive, that they refuse to use it. The Postal Service has had a monopoly over first-class mail ever since the time of Benjamin Franklin. That is the longest monopoly in American history. Yet it cannot persuade the federal government to use it." Continue reading →

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Google Launches Same-Day Delivery in San Francisco Bay Area

"Google has been testing the service, called Google Shopping Express, with employees for a few months. The company opened it up to the public this morning in a limited launch focused on San Francisco residents and others living south of the city from San Mateo to San Jose. Shoppers who sign up will get six months of free, same-day delivery of online orders placed with select retailers in the area. Google plans to charge for the service in the future, but it has not decided how much yet. Companies taking part in the test include national retailers such as Target, Office Depot Inc, Staples Inc and Toys 'R' Us Inc and smaller, local firms." Continue reading →

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The Management-free Organization

"Recently I heard that Valve, a highly successful video game company, has four hundred employees and no management structure. According to all reports, they make that model work. I spent a lot of time trying to imagine working for a company with no management. How do they resolve conflicts, set priorities, measure performance, fire laggards, and all the rest? I couldn't picture it working. Keep in mind that I earn my living by shouting that management is mostly worthless, yet even I couldn't accept the idea that management is 100% unnecessary. I was skeptical." Continue reading →

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What does crowdfunding replace or displace?

"Look at the sum of these trends. If a startup has a successful crowdfunder, its bargaining power with the VCs increases in two ways. First, it’s going to be less desperate for capital than a company that can’t run out and do another crowdfunder for the next product. Second, the VC’s uncertainty about its ability to build and sell will be reduced. These changes will both increase the startup’s ability to bargain for doing things its way and reduce the VC’s pressure for an early IPO. At the extreme, we might end up with a new normal in which VCs compete with each other to court startups that have done successful crowdfunders, neatly inverting the present situation." Continue reading →

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European Union delays carbon tax for one year

"The EU will put its controversial carbon tax on intercontinental airline flights on hold for a year to give time for international talks to reach a compromise on the issue. Almost all ICAO members have objected to the EU carbon tax on airline flights, which formally took effect in January 2012, saying it violated international law. China even threatened reprisals against European aircraft maker Airbus. The US rejects the EU’s methodology which calculates the tax based on the entire flight, but could possibly accept basing it on the portion through European air space. US airlines lost a complaint against the tax before the European Court of Justice." Continue reading →

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Europe’s new financial transaction tax missing projected revenues

"Tough taxes on financial transactions across Europe have devastated market activity and failed to raise as much as politicians hoped, according to new figures out yesterday. Hungary implemented a 0.1 per cent tax at the start of the year. But it raised less than half the revenue the state had hoped for, bringing in 13bn Hungarian Forints (£36m) in January. France forged ahead on its own, introducing a 0.2 per cent tax on sales of shares of major firms. But that only raised €200m (£169.4m) from August to November, well below to €530m expected. And Italy launched its FTT this month. Figures from TMF Group suggest it has cut trading volumes by 38 per cent already." Continue reading →

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