Europe

Double taxation row as Brussels unveils new financial transactions tax

"The European Commission was under fire Thursday (14 February) over claims that its planned tax on financial transactions (FTT) would lead to double taxation. Unveiling the plans for an FTT backed by 11 EU countries, Taxation Commissioner Algirdas Semeta said that it was a 'fair, technically sound and legally robust tax.' The proposal puts a 0.1 percent levy on bonds and shares and 0.01 percent on derivative products. The use of an 'issuance' principle as well as 'residence' criteria means that traders operating outside the FTT-11 would also be liable to pay the tax." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDouble taxation row as Brussels unveils new financial transactions tax

Italy’s ex-intelligence chief given 10-year sentence for role in CIA kidnapping

"Mustafa Osama Nasr (Abu Omar), who in 2001 had been granted asylum by Italy from persecution in Egypt, was abducted by the CIA and then shipped back to Egypt where he was imprisoned for four years without charges and, he says, brutally tortured by America's long-standing ally, the Mubarak regime. Nasr 'was seized in broad daylight on the open street, pushed into a white van, taken to the Aviano military airport and then flown to Egypt via the US Ramstein Air Base in Germany'. Yesterday, an Italian appellate court sentenced the country's former intelligence chief, Niccolò Pollari, to ten years in prison 'for complicity' in that kidnapping." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingItaly’s ex-intelligence chief given 10-year sentence for role in CIA kidnapping

The Communist Romania Exit Tax

"In order to receive a visa for permanent non-citizen residence in the U.S., I had to pay a tax for all the government benefits I had received in my first twenty years of life, schooling, medical care, subsidized concrete block housing, pot-holed road use, constant police surveillance, and other 'services' I was not even aware existed or received. I was worried since I had no penny to my name and I knew I would not be able to leave without paying. The final figure was provided to me after months of deliberation and computation by the communist party apparatchiks – my freedom was worth exactly $160 U.S. dollars. I owned a Japanese boom box which I sold quickly for $160." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Communist Romania Exit Tax

Scotland’s independence could see descendants worldwide eligible for passport

"Scotland First Minister Alex Salmond told ONE News he would want to offer citizenship to an independent Scotland to as many descendants as possible. The offer could also allow citizens to live and work anywhere in the European Union. 'I think like Ireland, Scotland would want to use its global reach in the most effective way and make that sort of inclusive statement,' said Salmond. Salmond's Scottish National Party swept to power on the back of a promise to hold a referendum on independence. 'Scotland's a country of five and quarter million people, we have a reach internationally, across the world we'd want maximum entitlement to citizenship,' said Salmond." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingScotland’s independence could see descendants worldwide eligible for passport

The Italian Patient: Resisting Berlusconi’s Charms

"Other populists are also gathering votes in the race to the finish line. One of them is Beppe Grillo of the protest movement 'Movimento 5 Stelle.' Grillo travels around the country on a 'tsunami tour,' hates Merkel, doesn't want to repay a cent of debt and is seriously calling upon Al-Qaida to bomb the parliament in Rome, saying that he would even provide the terrorists with the necessary coordinates. Polls estimate that Grillo has the potential to capture 20 percent of the vote. He could become the third-strongest force by securing the support of the sizable number of undecided Italians who are weary of politics." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Italian Patient: Resisting Berlusconi’s Charms

Chief Greek Statistician Threatened with Jail For Revealing True Size of Deficit

"At a time when the rest of the world was furious that Greece had artificially improved the country's budget statistics, Greek prosecutors are accusing Georgiou of doing the opposite. Prosecutors acted after a 15-month investigation into allegations made by a former ELSTAT board member. If found guilty, Georgiou faces five to 10 years in prison. Some argue that the technocrat Georgiou was serving his former superiors at the IMF and the European statistics agency Eurostat, which is led by a German. This theory holds that Greece was to be brought to its knees by imposing harsh austerity measures based on bloated deficit figures." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingChief Greek Statistician Threatened with Jail For Revealing True Size of Deficit

Tax Haven Reputation Plagues Planned EU Bailout of Cyprus

"The euro rescuers face a dilemma. On the one hand, they want to prevent the country from going bankrupt. On the other hand, they lack the support of a majority of member states for an aid program that would mostly benefit rich Russian tax fugitives. The tricky situation is prompting European leaders to do what they always do when a crisis comes to a head: play for time. Until now, someone who wanted a safe haven for his money could simply take a plane to Nicosia, because the country is an EU member and yet is lax when it comes to financial regulation, say German investigators." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTax Haven Reputation Plagues Planned EU Bailout of Cyprus

The Fed’s Bailout Of Europe Continues With Record $237 Billion Injected Into Foreign Banks In Past Month

"In the past 4 weeks, the Fed has injected a record $237 billion of cash into foreign banks with access to the Fed's excess reserves: a number greater than both the cash influx surge seen after the Lehman collapse, and faster and more acute than the massive build up of cash during the spring and summer of 2011 when all the Fed's brand new QE2 cash was once again, solely used to overfund European bank cash." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Fed’s Bailout Of Europe Continues With Record $237 Billion Injected Into Foreign Banks In Past Month

Greeks strip country for scrap cash

"Train lines, bridges, cables and even cemeteries have all been targeted for scrap to feed a market driven by China and India. Police now arrest an average of four metal thieves every day, compared to a few cases every month before the crisis started in late 2009. The profile of the metal thief is also changing, authorities say, from gypsies and immigrants living on the margins of society to mainstream Greeks who have fallen on hard times. Athens' nine-year-old light rail system has been a prime magnet for metal robbers, with at least five major disruptions reported in the past six months due to cable theft." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGreeks strip country for scrap cash

Yahoo, Dell Swell Netherlands’ $13 Trillion Tax Haven

"The Netherlands, in the heart of a continent better known for social welfare than corporate welfare, has emerged as one of the most important tax havens for multinational companies. Now, as a deficit-strapped Europe raises retirement ages and taxes on the working class, the Netherlands’ role as a $13 trillion relay station on the global tax-avoiding network is prompting a backlash. The Dutch Parliament is scheduled to debate the fairness of its tax system today. Lawmakers from several parties, including members of the country’s governing coalition, say they want to remove a stain on the nation’s reputation." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingYahoo, Dell Swell Netherlands’ $13 Trillion Tax Haven