Lead us not into temptation
By Gaute Solheim, Senior Tax Advisor, Norwegian Tax Administration
(Mr. Solheim writes in his individual capacity and does not purport to represent the views of the Norwegian Tax Administration.)
The Norwegian Tax Administration (NTA) has succeeded in leading most of the taxpayers away from the temptation of tax evasion over the last two decades. Not all, but most. It was not by carefully guiding them down a narrow path. The NTA constructed a wide avenue built on large quantities of third-party information pushed into prepopulated tax filings. Norway tweaked details in the rules for the most used deductions, linking them to easy observable facts and standard rates instead of using actual cost. Feedback from audits were used to evaluate possible changes in rules, eliminating or reducing the temptations facing the taxpayer in the filing process.
Former
Wall Street trader Edgar Fernandez used some of his Bitcoin as
collateral to borrow nearly $100,000, a move that let him keep his
cryptocurrency and avert a tax bill on the newly acquired cash.
The
tax perk stems from a longstanding principle that assets aren’t taxed
until sold, much like borrowing against stock holdings. Yet digital
currency carries far greater risks, from price volatility, to hacks and
thefts that can make the collateral disappear, to sometimes shadowy
players without long track records in the field.
Since
last fall, when the value of digital money plummeted, lenders have been
pushing people who have paper profits to leverage them into cash by
borrowing against their cryptocurrencies. And the fact that there’s no
tax bill on the transactions is a big selling point. The Internal
Revenue Service treats crypto money as a capital asset like stocks or
property, not as a currency. ..
More on the College Admissions Scandal
IU Tax Policy Colloquium: Williamson, Filer Voter: An Experiment Testing Voter Registration at Tax Time
By: Leandra Lederman
On February 28, Indiana University Maurer School of Law’s Tax Policy Colloquium, hosted this year by my colleague David Gamage, welcomed Vanessa Williamson from the Brookings Institution. Vanessa presented a report that is due to be released at the end of March on a “Filer Voter” experiment she conducted at Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites in Cleveland, Ohio and Dallas, Texas.
Prestige Institute of Management, 4 April 2019. The paper examines the dependency of citizens on on-line transactions highlighting the issues of data thefts & identity theft. The paper also discusses the methodologies for CAPTCHA, OTP and UBA for user authentication and examines the efficacy of web security through these methods.
The Leisures of Blockchains #2: Gambling on the Blockchain
UNSW Business School, April 2019. This discussion paper expands upon the “leisured” aspect of blockchain technologies by considering the growth of gambling activities on blockchain platforms. It notes the need for greater regulatory and accountability structures to circumscribe such activities given the risks of illicit activity that can be perpetuated on blockchains.
UNSW Business School, April 2019. This discussion paper expands upon the “leisured” aspect of blockchain technologies by considering the growth of gambling activities on blockchain platforms. It notes the need for greater regulatory and accountability structures to circumscribe such activities given the risks of illicit activity that can be perpetuated on blockchains.
Learning or Playing? The Effect of Gamified Training on Performance
Games-based training is widely used to engage and motivate employees to learn, but research about its effectiveness has been scant. This study at a large professional services firm adopting a gamified training platform showed the training helps performance when employees are already highly engaged, and harms performance when they’re not.
Web Security Using User Authentication Methodologies: CAPTCHA, OTP and User Behaviour AuthenticationGames-based training is widely used to engage and motivate employees to learn, but research about its effectiveness has been scant. This study at a large professional services firm adopting a gamified training platform showed the training helps performance when employees are already highly engaged, and harms performance when they’re not.
Prestige Institute of Management, 4 April 2019. The paper examines the dependency of citizens on on-line transactions highlighting the issues of data thefts & identity theft. The paper also discusses the methodologies for CAPTCHA, OTP and UBA for user authentication and examines the efficacy of web security through these methods.
Mobilebanking apps are holding data insecurely
Research into a host of mobile banking apps has revealed alarming security fallibilities that could pave the way for cyber criminals to access highly sensitive financial data.
Predicting online fraud victimisation in Australia
The pervasiveness of the internet and society’s reliance on it for personal and business use has brought with it many benefits. However, for those who seek to defraud others, it has also provided new ways of identifying and targeting potential victims.
Online consumer fraud can take a variety of forms and can target anyone. It comes with substantial costs. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) estimates that more than $90m was lost as a result of fraudulent activity in 2017 (ACCC 2018).
This report presents the findings of a study conducted by the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) with the support and cooperation of the ACCC’s Scamwatch staff. The study sought to determine and quantify the factors that make individuals vulnerable to consumer fraud and that lead to their victimisation.
Predicting online fraud victimisation in Australia
• How do police use CCTV footage in criminal investigations
• Does CCTV help police solve crime?
Research into a host of mobile banking apps has revealed alarming security fallibilities that could pave the way for cyber criminals to access highly sensitive financial data.
Predicting online fraud victimisation in Australia
The pervasiveness of the internet and society’s reliance on it for personal and business use has brought with it many benefits. However, for those who seek to defraud others, it has also provided new ways of identifying and targeting potential victims.
Online consumer fraud can take a variety of forms and can target anyone. It comes with substantial costs. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) estimates that more than $90m was lost as a result of fraudulent activity in 2017 (ACCC 2018).
This report presents the findings of a study conducted by the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) with the support and cooperation of the ACCC’s Scamwatch staff. The study sought to determine and quantify the factors that make individuals vulnerable to consumer fraud and that lead to their victimisation.
Predicting online fraud victimisation in Australia
• How do police use CCTV footage in criminal investigations
• Does CCTV help police solve crime?
Ars
Technica April 4,
2019
A wave of
DNS hijacking attacks that abuse Google's cloud computing service is causing
consumer routers to connect to fraudulent and potentially malicious websites
and addresses, a security researcher has warned. By now, most people know that
Domain Name System servers translate human-friendly domain names into the
numeric IP addresses that computers need to find other computers on the
Internet. Over the past four months, a blog post published Thursday said,
attackers have been using Google cloud service to scan the Internet for routers
that are vulnerable to remote exploits. When they find susceptible routers, the
attackers then use the Google platform to send malicious code that configures
the routers to use malicious DNS servers. Troy Mursch, the independent security
researcher who published Thursday's post, said the first wave hit in late December.
The campaign exploited vulnerabilities in four models of D-Link routers.
“Under Pressure: The Squeezed Middle Class: “Middle-class households feel left behind and have questioned the benefits of economic globalisation. In many OECD countries, middle incomes have grown less than the average and in some they have not grown at all. Technology has automated several middle-skilled jobs that used to be carried out by middle-class workers a few decades ago. The costs of some goods and services such as housing, which are essential for a middle-class lifestyle, have risen faster than earnings and overall inflation.
From Brexiteers to Communists And Everything Between: Protesters Unite For Julian Assange at Ecuadorian Embassy Gateway Pundit
Can attackers inject malice into medical imagery? Fake growths here and there techxplore
Dubai: Daughter of Facebook ‘horse’ insult woman makes plea BBC
Carmela Chivers, via Inside Story
While we aren’t at panic stations yet, there are economic inequalities that politicians could address to promote a fair go for all Australians.“Under Pressure: The Squeezed Middle Class: “Middle-class households feel left behind and have questioned the benefits of economic globalisation. In many OECD countries, middle incomes have grown less than the average and in some they have not grown at all. Technology has automated several middle-skilled jobs that used to be carried out by middle-class workers a few decades ago. The costs of some goods and services such as housing, which are essential for a middle-class lifestyle, have risen faster than earnings and overall inflation.
From Brexiteers to Communists And Everything Between: Protesters Unite For Julian Assange at Ecuadorian Embassy Gateway Pundit
Can attackers inject malice into medical imagery? Fake growths here and there techxplore
Dubai: Daughter of Facebook ‘horse’ insult woman makes plea BBC