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Labour leader has faced backlash after saying he would oppose any new tax on business in budgetKeir Starmer is under pressure to back future rises in corporation tax after a backlash when the Labour leader said he would oppose any new tax on business in next week’s budget.Treasury officials are believed to be looking at increasing the tax on company profits from the current...

Sunak’s plan to pinch pennies in a pandemic is unwise. But the bigger problem is the centralisation of his spending projectsRishi Sunak has spent billions of pounds rescuing the economy during the year of Covid, but he needs to go further.To start with, the chancellor, who set out his 2021-22 spending plans last week, needs to make permanent the £20-a-week increase in universal credit...

Announcement follows years of tax evasion scandals involving BVI shell companiesThe government of the British Virgin Islands has finally committed to introducing public registers of beneficial ownership for companies incorporated in the tax haven.The announcement, made in the islands’ parliament, comes after years of tax evasion and money laundering scandals, in which shell companies incorporated in the territory regularly played a central role. Continue...

During the first presidential debate, Donald Trump was pressed on the New York Times story over his tax returns, which showed he paid only $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017. The president claimed he had paid “millions” in income taxes and said he would release his tax returns soon, which he has been saying since 2015. Joe Biden said Trump ‘does...

Error and fraud rate for scheme estimated at between 5% and 10%, says HMRC chiefCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe government believes it may have paid out up to £3.5bn in wrong or fraudulent claims for the furlough scheme.Jim Harra, the top civil servant at HM Revenue & Customs, said that his staff had calculated for the possibility that as much as...

Several Conservative backbenchers argue that focus must be on supporting a continued economic recoveryThe chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has been urged not to introduce tax hikes in his November budget by Conservative backbenchers who argue they would damage economic recovery.The intervention followed speculation the Treasury could raise £20bn through extra levies to deal with the fallout from Covid-19. Continue reading...

Newly introduced tax expected to raise £500m, helping to reduce Britain’s huge Covid billCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe UK government has denied reports that it is to drop a recently introduced levy on global technology companies such as Facebook, Google and Amazon due to fears the so-called “Facebook tax” could jeopardise a post-Brexit trade deal.The Treasury said on Sunday it would...

UK ‘breached directive’ when it failed to inform EU of zero-rate of VAT given to commodities tradersThe British government has been ordered to pay the European commission’s legal costs after being successfully sued for granting City traders a tax break without EU permission.The European court of justice ruled that the UK breached an EU directive by failing to notify Brussels of a zero rate...

The 5% rate on sanitary products will end. Rishi Sunak also plans to ensure banks keep circulating cashThe chancellor will announce the abolition of the “tampon tax” in next week’s budget, marking the successful conclusion to a 20-year campaign by women’s rights activists.Tampons and other women’s sanitary products currently have 5% VAT added to their price, but this will be scrapped, saving the average...

Tories’ election promise of £2.9bn extra public spending dwarfed by £83bn pledged by LabourConservative party manifesto: the key points and policiesBoris Johnson has launched a restrained manifesto that promises only £2.9bn extra in public spending a year by the end of the next parliament against £83bn a year outlined by Labour.Appearing in Telford in the West Midlands, the prime minister said his aims were...

‘Investment blitz’ promised as experts taken aback by scale of Labour’s tax and spend plansLatest election news – live updatesJeremy Corbyn has urged the public to vote for his “manifesto of hope” as he unveiled plans for the most dramatic increase in tax and spending in more than half a century if Labour wins power next month’s general election.In an upbeat launch event at...

PM’s apparent blunder over £12,500 threshold could benefit him amid ‘factchecking’ rowBoris Johnson has said he wants to raise the national insurance threshold to £12,500, letting slip a major Tory tax cut from the manifesto as he was speaking to workers in Teesside.The prime minister blurted out the key announcement as he was pressed by an employee at a fabrication yard about whether he...

CBI told cancelling proposed reduction would save £6bn that could be spent on public servicesLatest election news - live updatesBoris Johnson has told business leaders he will shelve a planned cut in corporation tax, claiming he would put £6bn into public services instead.The prime minister used a speech at the CBI conference to say corporation tax will not be cut from 19% to 17%,...

Returning infrastructure investment to 1970s levels may be undeliverable, says IFSLabour and the Conservatives have triggered a public spending bidding war, promising massive programmes of borrowing that will return public investment to levels last seen in the 1970s, according to Britain’s leading experts on the public finances.The Institute for Fiscal Studies said plans unveiled by Sajid Javid, the chancellor, and John McDonnell, his Labour...

IFS says public borrowing will more than double next year whatever the Brexit resultEmergency tax cuts and higher public spending to offset the impact of a no-deal Brexit would send government debt to its highest level in more than half a century, according to Britain’s leading experts on the public finances.The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said the scale of the government response required...

Private equity company 8 Miles channels funds through Mauritius in a ‘depressingly routine’ arrangementAt their closest point, Europe and Africa are just eight miles apart. That’s the inspiration for the name of Sir Bob Geldof’s private equity firm, 8 Miles, set up to channel investment into successful businesses in Africa.But we learned last week that 8 Miles’ cash travels considerably further than this on...