Labour: we will tax rich home owners February 14, 2013 LABOUR leader Ed Miliband yesterday declared war on people who own expensive homes, pledging to impose a crippling tax on properties worth more than £2m. The revenue would be used to partly reintroduce the 10p tax rate abolished by Gordon Brown. Shadow chancellor Ed Balls said introducing a tax on 70,000 high-end houses – 91 [...]
Tax onslaught from Labour and Brussels will destroy jobs February 14, 2013 IF it moves, tax it; if it doesn’t, subsidise it; and above all make sure the tax system is as complicated as possible. That, and a nasty dose of class war and anti-finance prejudice, has become the new modus operandi for many in Britain and Europe. As a result, yesterday was one of the worst [...]
EU power grab with new global transactions tax February 14, 2013 THE CITY was shocked yesterday by a surprise extension of the planned EU financial transactions tax (FTT) as the 11 countries implementing the charge launched plans to levy the tax across the whole world. Under the scheme trades of shares, bonds or derivatives will be taxed regardless of where the transaction takes place as long [...]
What the other papers say this morning February 14, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES JPMorgan’s Gulati launches fund JPMorgan’s global head of equity proprietary trading is quitting to set up a hedge fund in Switzerland in what will be the first prominent launch of a fund since several bank spinouts floundered last year. Deepak Gulati, once one of the bank’s star traders, will launch Argentière Capital probably [...]
AB InBev alter takeover terms February 14, 2013 ANHEUSER-BUSCH InBev, the world’s largest brewer, has revised the terms of its $20.1bn (£13bn) takeover of Mexico’s Grupo Modelo in hopes of ending US Department of Justice concerns that the deal would mean higher prices for US beer drinkers. AB InBev said yesterday it had agreed to sell Modelo’s Piedras Negras brewery in Mexico to [...]
BlackRock bond head quits role February 14, 2013 BLACKROCK, the world’s largest money manager, said yesterday Peter Fisher was stepping down as head of fixed income at the New York-based firm. Fisher will become a senior director at the BlackRock Investment Institute, which produces research for investors. BlackRock chief executive Laurence Fink said Fisher, 56, had completed a multi-year turnaround to improve performance [...]
Buffett’s taste for beans gives deal outlook a shot in the arm February 14, 2013 IF confirmation were needed that mega-deals are back on the agenda, then the Sage of Omaha certainly provided it yesterday. Buffett’s $28bn move for Heinz is the biggest deal this year in an already booming market, with the value of transactions in the last week alone – including Liberty Global’s bid for Virgin Media and [...]
Eurozone GDP sinks further in fourth quarter February 14, 2013 THE EUROZONE suffered another sliding quarter of output in the final three months of 2012, with worse-than expected contractions in both France and Germany. The bloc’s GDP slid 0.6 per cent in the final quarter, Eurostat revealed yesterday, below the consensus forecast predicting a 0.4 per cent fall and capping off a yearly decline of [...]
Tax cheat ban on state deals questioned February 14, 2013 LAWYERS yesterday raised concerns over plans to ban companies that have taken part in aggressive tax avoidance schemes from bidding for large government contracts. Ministers said the rules, which are due to come into effect at the start of April, will force businesses who want Whitehall contracts worth more than £2m to disclose whether HMRC [...]
BNP Paribas cuts costs as red tape hits February 14, 2013 FRENCH bank BNP Paribas is launching a major cost cutting programme to shore up profits in the face of tough markets and regulatory pressures, the lender said yesterday. Profits came in at €514m (£422.6m) for the final quarter of 2012, down 32.8 per cent on the same period of 2012. But income for the year [...]
