Lloyds says ‘Hello’ to facial recognition banking FT. I don’t think the Iron Bank of Braavos would go for this, given the skillset at the House of Black and White
Steve Ballmer and essential data for running the human race
Steve Ballmer and essential data for running the human race
Share trader's multimillion-dollar win over ATO prompts reform cries
Meet the woman who brings CNN’s political coverage to the web
Property sector scrambling to recruit Chinese real estateagents using 457 visas
Boston Globe’s plan for digital reinvention: Be ready for constant change
24/7 Wall St – “The U.S. economic system encourages cost-cutting at every stage of business. While taxes are a yearly expense for small businesses, working families, and individuals, large U.S. companies avoid billions in taxes each year on cash held in offshore bank accounts. The current level of global wealth inequality, which is widely expected to widen under reforms proposed by President Donald Trump and congressional leaders, is unprecedented. According to anti-poverty organization Oxfam America, just eight individuals possess more wealth than 3.6 billion people — half of humanity. The wealthiest 1% of people worldwide have more wealth than everyone else combined. Against this backdrop, tax avoidance is especially troubling. The 50 largest public U.S. companies currently have a combined $1.6 trillion stashed in accounts and assets overseas — according to new analysis by Oxfam. Apple is the leader, with $200.1 billion held in foreign bank accounts.
Americans are using alpacas to dodge taxes, a US senator warns
Enforcement Directorate raids tax professionals, CAs in Delhi
Sweden to target advisers in tax avoidance clampdown
Solicitor who transferred £1.3m to Belize is suspended for money laundering breaches
IT TAKES a little over 90 seconds. At the government-subsidised ration shop in Sargasan, a village in Gujarat, Chandana Prajapati places her thumb on a fingerprint scanner. A list of the staples she and her family are entitled to this month appears on the shopkeeper’s computer: 10kg of rice, 25kg of wheat, some cooking oil, salt and sugar. The 55-year-old housewife has no cash nor credit card, but no matter. By tapping in an identifying number and presenting her thumb one more time, Mrs Prajapati authorises a payment of 271 rupees ($4.20) straight from her bank account. It is technical wizardry worthy of Stockholm or New York; yet outside buffaloes graze, a pot of water is coming to the boil on a pile of firewood and children scamper between mud-brick houses.Like most Indians, Mrs Prajapati would have struggled to identify herself to the authorities a few years ago, let alone to a faraway bank. But 99% of adults are now enrolled in Aadhaar, a scheme which has amassed the fingerprints and iris scans of over 1.1bn people since 2010. With her authorisation, any government body or private business can check whether her fingerprints or irises match those recorded against her unique 12-digit identifying number in its database. When it comes to identification, India has unexpectedly leapfrogged every country with the possible exception of Estonia, a tiddler with a penchant for innovation.
The Aadhaar system has cut corruption and cleaned the rolls of people with fake identities trying to scam fertilizer, food or some other subsidized good. But the government wants the
mark of the beastAadhaar system to be used for just about everything including paying taxes, getting school lunches, buying airline tickets or a cell phone and that makes some people worried:
In theory, the law on Aadhaar passed last year by Mr Modi’s government includes stringent protections against the sharing of information; its rules allowing exceptions on grounds of national security, although vaguely worded, appear well intended. Sweden has required all citizens to have a national ID number since 1947—the year of India’s birth—with little trouble. Most Swedes consider the scheme, which is linked to tax, school, medical and other records, an immense convenience.But India is not a tidy Nordic kingdom. Mr Modi’s government, with its strident nationalism and occasional recklessness—such as last year’s abrupt voiding of most of the paper currency in circulation—does not always inspire confidence that it will respect citizens’ rights and legal niceties. By sneaking the linkage between Aadhaar and tax into a budget bill, it raises concerns about intent: will the government stalk tax evaders, or perhaps enemies of the state, using ostensibly “fire-walled” Aadhaar data? Many Indians will remember that, following sectarian riots in the past, ruling parties were accused of using voter rolls to target victims.
As the Economist wisely concludes:
…for Aadhaar to fulfil its potential, Indians must trust that it will not be misused. Adopting coercive regulations, ignoring the Supreme Court’s qualms and dismissing critics peremptorily will achieve the opposite.
Leaked Records Show Shell's Complicity in Massive Oil Corruption Scandal