Economics

Belgium rejects France’s push to tax French citizens living in Belgium

"Today the Belgian foreign minister gave an interview to the centre-right newspaper Le Figaro, where critics of the socialist president François Hollande are made to feel comfortable. On the French government’s desire to renegotiate tax collection between the two governments, the gentlest possible No Way: 'We’re ready to examine many things, as long as the superior principle of free circulation of people, goods and services within the EU is respected. But if this is about recognizing some French power to tax people who live in Belgium, that’s a whole other matter. Every European country must accept that its citizens decide to live elsewhere.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBelgium rejects France’s push to tax French citizens living in Belgium

Actor Gerard Depardieu ‘giving up French passport’ in tax controversy

"France’s leading actor Gerard Depardieu said on Sunday he was giving up his French passport after being 'insulted' by the prime minister calling him 'pathetic' for becoming a tax exile in Belgium. In an open letter to Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, the 63-year-old 'Cyrano de Bergerac' and 'Green Card' star said he had been treated unfairly after years of supporting France and paying millions of euros in taxes. Depardieu has joined some of France’s wealthiest business figures in Belgium following moves by President Francois Hollande’s Socialist government to tax annual incomes above one million euros ($1.3 million) at 75 percent." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingActor Gerard Depardieu ‘giving up French passport’ in tax controversy

Amazon’s billion-dollar tax shield

"By setting up in Luxembourg, and channelling sales through its units there, the world's biggest online retailer could minimise corporate taxes. It was a move with big financial consequences. Amazon's Luxembourg arrangements have deprived European governments of hundreds of millions of dollars in tax that it might otherwise have owed, as reported in European newspapers. But a Reuters examination of accounts filed by 25 Amazon units in six countries shows how they also allowed the company to avoid paying more tax in the United States, where the company is based." Continue reading →

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Google Revenues Sheltered in No-Tax Bermuda Soar to $10 Billion

"Google Inc. (GOOG) avoided about $2 billion in worldwide income taxes in 2011 by shifting $9.8 billion in revenues into a Bermuda shell company, almost double the total from three years before, filings show. By legally funneling profits from overseas subsidiaries into Bermuda, which doesn’t have a corporate income tax, Google cut its overall tax rate almost in half. The amount moved to Bermuda is equivalent to about 80 percent of Google’s total pretax profit in 2011. Governments in France, the U.K., Italy and Australia are probing Google’s tax avoidance as they seek to boost revenue during economic doldrums." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGoogle Revenues Sheltered in No-Tax Bermuda Soar to $10 Billion

Canada to privatize its medical marijuana industry, ban personal growing

"Canada’s Conservative government will soon stop producing and distributing medical marijuana, leaving it up to the private sector in a policy change that angered critics on Monday. Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said Ottawa would no longer produce and distribute marijuana for medical purposes. Instead, companies will be licenced to grow and sell the product at market rates. Patients with a prescription from a doctor starting in March 2013 will be allowed to purchase a variety of strains of marijuana from licensed producers, who will set prices. Also individuals will no longer be permitted to grow marijuana in their homes for their own personal use." Continue reading →

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Mexico to create new national police force to fight drug cartels

"Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto announced the creation of a national police force to crack down on crime and battle the country’s powerful drug cartels. The force — a gendarmerie based on the model of Spain’s Guardia Civil — would be 10,000 strong. Currently Mexico has a patchwork of city and state police, along with some national police. Pena Nieto also said he was allocating $8.8 billion for social programs aimed at preventing crime. Pena Nieto, 46, is a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the party that ran Mexico for 71 years ending in 2000." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMexico to create new national police force to fight drug cartels

Detlev Schlichter: “Watching your money disappear” – Speech to senior representatives of the UK pension fund industry

"I believe disappearing money will be the major event of the present decade, and it will not just have major implications for your business, it will have grave consequences for society at large. The money itself may not in fact disappear (although some of it probably will) but money’s value will disappear, moneys purchasing power. This will not be the result of an act of magic but will simply be the consequence of our monetary arrangements and the established course of policy. Future historians will be surprised that anybody could have seriously contemplated a different and much happier outcome for today’s system of unconstrained fiat money production." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDetlev Schlichter: “Watching your money disappear” – Speech to senior representatives of the UK pension fund industry

The Worst Inflation in My Lifetime

"Shortly after we took this family photo in 1951, Dad decided to buy a second home in Brazil, where we experienced the worst inflation of the 20th Century. One day, the president announced an appeal to patriotism — 'gold for Brazil.' All loyal citizens were asked to collect any gold they had in their home and donate it to the government. Later, when inflation surpassed an annual rate of 2,000 percent, the government got so desperate it didn’t bother making public appeals. It summarily announced that everyone’s bank accounts were frozen and everyone’s savings were confiscated." Continue reading →

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Health Insurers Will Be Charged 3.5% to Use Federal Obamacare Exchanges

"The Obama administration said Friday that it would charge insurance companies for the privilege of selling health insurance to millions of Americans in new online markets run by the federal government. The cost of these 'user fees' can be passed on to consumers. The proposed fees could add 3.5 percent to premiums for private health plans sold in insurance exchanges operated by the federal government. Indeed, it now appears that federal officials could be running the exchanges — alone or in partnership with local officials — in more than half the states." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHealth Insurers Will Be Charged 3.5% to Use Federal Obamacare Exchanges

$9 Billion in Government Checks Result in Some Parents Keeping Their Children Dumb

"This is what poverty sometimes looks like in America: parents here in Appalachian hill country pulling their children out of literacy classes. Moms and dads fear that if kids learn to read, they are less likely to qualify for a monthly check for having an intellectual disability." Continue reading →

Continue Reading$9 Billion in Government Checks Result in Some Parents Keeping Their Children Dumb