Taxing Times Reading During the Holly Season: John Quiggin

Tax Justice Network. Our quote of the day comes from one absolute must-read article about Zuckerberg’s move: “He amassed one of the greatest fortunes in the world — and is likely never to pay any taxes on it.” Quote of the day – on Mark Zuckerberg’s ‘charitable donation’

[However philanthropic the intentions of Mark Zuckerberg, he isn’t required to give a penny of his $45 billion to charity despite his announcement this week ...]
 
Academic Study Says Fed Engaged In Systematic Leaks To Insiders Value Walk (TF). Quelle surprise ...


For most of my (citizen blogger John Quiggin's) academic career, I’ve been working on (more precisely, trying to demolish) the idea of private investment in public infrastructure, exemplified by the Private Finance Initiative in the UK and the Public Private Partnerships program in Australia. Here’s my first published article on the subject, from 1996. I conclude that

The current enthusiasm for private infrastructure, like the enthusiasm for public ownership which it replaced, has been based more on ideological beliefs in the virtues of one sector and the vices of the other than on any systematic economic analysis …Analysis of the relative performance of the private and public sector in different phases of infrastructure provision suggests that, in most cases, the private sector will be most efficient in the construction phase but the public sector will be best equipped to handle the risks associated with ownership.

Twenty years later, this analysis seems finally to have been validated. The UK Auditor-General recently reported that

Analysis of the 2012-13 Whole of Government Accounts (WGA) implies that the effective interest rate of all private finance deals (7%–8%) is double that of all government borrowing (3%–4%)

As a result of the excess costs, and some spectacular failures, bipartisan enthusiasm for the PFI has finally turned to disillusionment. Here’s the Telegraph, correctly putting much of the blame on New Labour. And, for balance, here’s the Guardian. There hasn’t been a similar admission of failure in Australia, but the flow of PPP projects has greatly diminished, and most new ones rely on a substantial component of public capital.  Private infrastructure finance and secular stagnation

The Federal Reserve is about to take a big gamble by hiking rates Washington Post

Job Market to Fed: Proceed With Caution Bloomberg

  ***Tax Whistleblowers Who Changed The Game ...

**Australia Greens accused of 'selling out' over deal with Coalition on tax transparency

***Ex-money launderer Kenneth Rijock offers tips for whistleblowers  

• Workshop: Call for Papers on Corruption and the Role of Tax Havens 
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• Shell companies: UK statement on public registers – and an animated video 
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• Three Tax Whistleblowers Who Changed The Game  
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• Now the Financial Reporting Council is realising tax is a risk that needs to be reported  
• Tax systems: A channel for corruption – or a way to fight it? 
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• Exxon and Chevron keep U.S. tax payments secret, undermine government transparency push
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• France backs country-by-country corporate tax reporting from 2016  (
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• Households forced to plug corporate tax gap, says OECD  
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• Individuals are shouldering more of the tax burden as companies find ways to pay less
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• Read OECD Report: Revenue Statistics 1965-2014 
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• State aid: European Commission opens formal investigation into Luxembourg's tax treatment of McDonald's 


• Making Sense of Profit Shifting: Edward Kleinbard 
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• Why Corporate Tax Reform Can Happen by Edward Kleinbard  
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• Strippers told to reveal all about tax to HMRC  
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• *Australian multinational tax avoidance laws to come into effect next year   


• The Facebook mogul Mark Zuckerberg and an act of charity that reeks of hypocrisy 
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• Facebook: How Mark Zuckerberg's Altruism Helps Himself  
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• High profile accountant convicted of £6m tax evasion  
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• The IMF Is Pushing for Carbon Taxes, But at What Price?  
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• The fiction of Total Tax Contribution: City of London's tax bill hits highest since financial crisis
  
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• The fiction of Total Tax Contribution: UK Banks pay lowest proportion oftax since before financial crisis  
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• Why the time for Tax Reporting Standards has arrived 
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• EU Hunts McDonald's No-Tax Secret Sauce, Could End Love For Tax-Free Royalties 
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• Ex-Citigroup Construction Executive Admits Taking $500000 in Bribes 

• UK Revenue chalks up win in £54m Ladbrokes case  
• Court rules against Ladbrokes over £54m corporation tax avoidance scheme  
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• UK Tax Tribunal Judgement - Another Deloitte tax scheme : Travel Document Service & Anor v Revenue & Customs (INCOME TAX/CORPORATION TAX : Anti-avoidance) [2015] UKFTT 582 (TC) (19 November 2015)