Under the proposals, the financial tax would be levied at a rate of 0.1 percent on all transactions between institutions when at least one party is based in the EU. The tax would raise about 57 billion euros a year and would begin from the start of 2014.
A spokesman for the UK Treasury said it would “absolutely resist” any tax that was not introduced globally.
“We would not do anything that is not in the UK's interests," the spokesman said.
In order to be implemented across the EU, the tax would need to be approved by the UK. But the commission said if the UK did not give the tax approval then it would look to having it implemented across the eurozone instead.
Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said Europe was facing its “greatest challenge” and banks must "make a contribution".
The commission said the tax was “to ensure that the financial sector makes a fair contribution at a time of fiscal consolidation in the member states".
It also said that financial firms were “under-taxed” compared with other sectors, and that they had played a role in the current “economic crisis”.
The commission also stated that the "significant additional revenue" raised would contribute to public finances.
City of London officials have said that about 80 percent of the revenues of any Europe-wide financial tax would come from London.
"For more information, please contact Glazers, Chartered Accountants London or visit www.glazers.co.uk
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( 3 / 771 )Labour Party leader Ed Miliband will today criticise companies who have the “wrong values” by not creating jobs, invest in other companies or train their staff.
Mr Miliband will speak today at the Labour Party Conference, where he is expected to warn private equity firms and businesses believed to be “asset strippers” that they will face higher taxes under a Labour Government.
The Labour leader is also expected to tell the party’s conference that businesses would no longer be equally taxed and regulated. Firms would instead be judged by the ways in which they make their money.
Financial incentives would also be offered by the Government to businesses that behave responsibly and contribute to society.
Labour’s controversial plan is expected to receive its fair share of criticism, as ministers will have to defend their labeling of businesses as being either “good” or “bad”.
Mr Miliband is also expected to call for a “new bargain, based on a different set of values”.
He will tell the conference: “Let me tell you what the 21st-century choice is: are you on the side of the wealth creators or the asset strippers?
“For years as a country we have been neutral in that battle. They’ve been taxed the same, regulated the same, treated the same, celebrated the same. They won’t be by me.”
Mr Miliband will also propose reforms to the tax and regulation system to give incentives to businesses that “make a wider contribution to the economy”.
The City have often accused the Labour leader as being anti-business, and private equity companies will argue that they have enabled failing businesses to carry on employing people and adding to the economy.
"For more information, please contact Glazers, Chartered Accountants London or visit www.glazers.co.uk
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( 3.1 / 510 )The Treasury is to announce a £100 million tax break for entrepreneurs who back Britain’s growing businesses in a bid to make the UK “the best place to start, finance and grow a business”.
In a move to expand the Enterprise Investment Scheme, the Chancellor George Osborne is expected to go ahead with the plans to “give a bigger tax break to those who take risks for growth”.
The measure was firstly unveiled in the Budget in March; however, the European Commission has only just given the scheme the green light.
The Government is keen to help small businesses with the potential to expand rapidly and the Treasury hopes the tax breaks will encourage greater investment in some of the UK’s fast-growing, smaller businesses. It hopes the measures will increase the amount of investment directed at the high-growth small business sector
The plan involves raising the income tax relief from 20 percent to 30 percent for EIS investments, backdated to April 2011, and doubling investor limits to £1 million in April 2012.
George Osborne said: "We want to make the UK the best place to start, finance and grow a business. These changes will give a bigger tax break to those who take risks for growth and jobs in Britain by investing in the small companies that have the potential to be fast growing."
Since being established in the 1990s, EIS has supported more than £11 billion of investment, Treasury figures have revealed. In 2008, during the worst recession since the Second World War, the EIS helped to raise £500 million for 1,800 small businesses.
The Chancellor is confident that the new measures will increase the amount of capital available to small businesses and will be an alternative option to bank credit.
As complaints mount over the failing of UK banks to lend to small firms, the Government is under pressure to improve the access to financing for small businesses.
"For more information, please contact Glazers, Chartered Accountants London or visit www.glazers.co.uk
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( 3 / 708 )The world is on the brink of a new economic crisis, according to the Prime Minister, who said leaders in the US and Europe have failed to tackle Government deficits, which now “threatens the stability of the world economy.”
David Cameron said the situation could leave countries like Britain “staring down the barrel”.
Mr Cameron’s concerns are matched by politicians, bankers and investors who are becoming increasingly worried that Government debts are dragging down the world’s economy, which could see the world’s biggest economies sliding back into a recession.
Mounting gloomy economic data has accumulated this week, with stock markets around the world falling sharply again and the FTSE-100 seeing its biggest drop for more than two years.
The Prime Minister was speaking in Ottawa, where he also warned that political indecision would only worsen the financial crisis.
“We're not quite staring down the barrel, but the pattern is clear," he said "Growth in Europe has stalled, growth in America has stalled."
Earlier this week, Mr Cameron also penned an open letter to US and European leaders, which was signed by leaders from Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Mexico and Korea.
“Barriers to action are now political as much as economic. We must send a clear signal that we are ready to take the actions necessary to maintain growth and stability for all for the future,” the letter said.
Mr Cameron went onto criticise US and eurozone Governments for not doing enough to reduce budget deficits.
The letter said the US "needs to overcome the remaining hurdles towards restoring medium–term fiscal sustainability,” and eurozone Governments must “act swiftly” to restore markets’ confidence in the single currency and struggling countries.
Christine Lagarde, the International Monetary Fund’s managing director, also voiced her concerns at a meeting in Washington.
"The current economic situation is entering a dangerous phase," she said.
She also warned that the world was facing a prolonged crisis unless leaders could find the "political determination" to set the recovery back on track.
The Bank of England is expected to launch a new round of quantitative easing, printing new money, as soon as next month.
Sir Mervyn King, the Bank of England governor, sparked controversy this week by missing a key meeting of the IMF in Washington this week, sending his deputy, Charlie Bean, instead.
"For more information, please contact Glazers, Chartered Accountants London or visit www.glazers.co.uk
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( 3 / 639 )Following action against doctors and plumbers, HMRC are now clamping down on tax-dodging private tutors.
After announcing success at narrowing the “tax gap”, private tutors are the latest group of professionals to be targeted by HMRC on their crackdown on tax avoidance.
The HMRC said they are beginning to win the fight against avoidance, evasion and fraud.
The tax authority said the gap – the difference between what was paid and what should have been paid - had fallen by £4 billion to £35 billion.
Private tutors’ tax arrangements are the latest target group in a long line of professionals and wealthy individuals to be scrutinised by the HMRC in order to tackle the problem of tax evasion.
HMRC are also drawing focus on tax avoidance among the super-rich, following the announcement that a team of “affluence” inspectors have been recruited to concentrate on individuals living in the UK with a personal wealth of more than £2.5 million.
However, attention will also be focused on low-level tax avoidance by private tutors. As the austerity cuts and high inflation rates take their toll on disposable incomes, a number of school teacher’s work as private tutors to supplement their incomes, and attention will also be on fitness coaches and horse riding instructors who may also do supplementary work.
A HMRC spokesman said the "vast majority" of those who could be classed as private tutors were "fully law-abiding citizens" who pay what they owed. But, he added, there was a "significant enough minority" for it to be concerned.
HMRC will be using cutting-edge tools such as "web robot" software to search the internet and find information about specified people and companies, and their financial affairs. It will then use this information "to pursue people who choose not to use the opportunities we provide for them to put their affairs in order on the best possible terms".
The campaign targeting doctors and dentists raised about £10 million and in HMRC’s most recent campaign, involving plumbers, the money is "still coming in".
"For more information, please contact Glazers, Chartered Accountants London or visit www.glazers.co.uk
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