I had a real surprise the other day. I was watching Sky News and they had an interview with Arthur Laffer, the bloke who has that curve named after him. For some reason I had always just assumed that the Laffer curve, and by implication Laffer himsef, were a lot less recent than that. I […]
Entries Tagged as 'Taxation'
Starbucks culture shock
June 19th, 2014 · 1 Comment · Life
Earlier today I watched an interview with Howard Schultz, the Chairman and CEO of Starbucks, on The Daily Show, amidst a haze of cognitive dissonance. The Daily Show host, Jon Stewart is very much a left wing liberal in US terms but instead of ripping into Schultz for dodgy tax accounting he seemed to be […]
Car tax
July 30th, 2012 · Comments Off on Car tax · Life
I renewed the car tax tonight. It is all very easy to do it online, but wouldn’t it be easier if you could do it on a monthly direct debit? It must be just about the last major bill that you can’t pay on some sort of installment basis. I know it is an annual […]
A Laffer minute
March 22nd, 2012 · Comments Off on A Laffer minute · Politics
I’m no economist. I have same ability to predict the future as economists (i.e. none) but I am disqualified as an economist because I know that I can’t predict the future. Also I don’t trust the Laffer curve. It seems to me to be a bit like the Bible – quoted by both sides of […]
Taxing those mansions
March 6th, 2012 · Comments Off on Taxing those mansions · Politics
For a change I watched a bit of Newsnight this evening, where it appears that Labour is redundant because they just drag out two Tories with opposing views to discuss a Lib Dem idea. I’m equivocal about this ‘mansion tax’. There are good things about it and bad thing. I think that taxing property or […]
Tags: Taxation
Tax loophole closes, but not one of the big holes
November 9th, 2011 · Comments Off on Tax loophole closes, but not one of the big holes · Politics
Typical isn’t it? The government finally get round to closing a tax loophole, like we all want, but it turns out to be the one tax loophole that most of us have probably used – the low value consignment relief that means CD, DVDs and other things ordered from Amazon, Play and other online traders […]
Tags: Taxation
Beaten to it again
September 28th, 2010 · 3 Comments · Politics
Last week I was about to write something about the ConDom government’s announcement about council tax revaluation, and then lost the urge when Danivon beat me to it and said at least half of what I wanted to say, but I might as well have a little belated rant. When I read about this, the […]
Tags: Local Government·Taxation
VATs the way to do it!
January 2nd, 2009 · 5 Comments · Politics
Before Christmas I ordered some stuff from Argos – a bed and various bedroom furniture for Frankie’s new flat. I think it was ordered in November for delivery in December after he moved in. Today I received a letter from Argos telling me that the rate of VAT was reduced between the time of ordering […]
Tags: Local Government·Shopping·Taxation
Tax Freedom Day
January 2nd, 2009 · Comments Off on Tax Freedom Day · Politics
Thanks to Will Parbury for giving me my first good laugh of 2009 with his piece about billionaires’ tax freedom day. Very topical of course, coming right after my union’s call for tax havens and other tax loopholes to be closed.
Tags: Greed·Taxation·Trade Unions
Taxman
November 24th, 2008 · 2 Comments · Politics
A lot has been written about Darling’s pre-budget statement. In fact more has been written than anybody could manage to read, and that is a good thing: knowing that it is imposible to read it all means you don’t have to try – but one particular thing well worth reading is Snowflake’s comment on the […]
Tags: Taxation
