Friday, January 17, 2020

Boomers: Executive pay is out of control



And David Shariatmadari means those scare quotes. In this excerpt from his new book Don’t Believe a Word, he takes apart what he calls “the cult of untranslatables,” taking apart some regularly cited examples of such words and arguing that the mystique around them has some genuinely pernicious effects. – Literary Hub


Danielle Chaim (J.S.D. 2020, Columbia), The Perils of Common Ownership: Flooding Strategy:
The increased concentration of shares in the hands of large institutional investors has triggered a phenomenon which I term “flooding.” Under this phenomenon, institutional investors push their portfolio firms towards higher levels of noncompliance. Given limited enforcement capabilities, the simultaneous increase in the levels of noncompliance reduces the probability that such behavior will be detected and adequately penalized. Consequently, the presence of large, diversified shareholders destructs the inherent trade-off between compliance and enforcement. Misconduct becomes less risky and more rewarding, changing the way in which public firms approach legal risks.
This Article focuses on the applicability of flooding in the context of tax avoidance. Data suggests that the emerging ownership pattern in the United States increases levels of corporate tax avoidance. In this Article, I argue that this increase results in flooding, overwhelming the tax agency, now faced with new enforcement challenges.


CEO pay in perspective how big is that rip-off anyway?

…the B-ratio I proposed here, measured as the CEO pay over the total payroll of the firm, relates CEO pay to the salary of each employee and may be the most relevant and informative figure on CEO pay as perceived by the firm’s employees themselves. How much a typical employee of the S&P500 firms implicitly “contributes” to the salary of his/her CEO? An amount of $273 on average or 0.5% of one’s salary, that is, one half of one percent on an individual salary basis.
That is from Marcel Boyer, via Alex T. and the mysterious v and Vincent Geloso.

 A new Away message?


Following up on my previous posts:



Google has overhauled its global tax structure and consolidated all of its intellectual property holdings back to the U.S., signaling the winding down of a tax loophole estimated to have saved American companies hundreds of billions of dollars.

The internet search company said on Tuesday the move was designed to simplify its corporate tax arrangements and was in line with OECD efforts to limit international tax avoidance, as well as recent changes to U.S. and Irish laws.

Google’s actions came ahead of the close of the so-called double Irish tax loophole, which has been used by U.S. companies to channel international profits through Ireland and on to tax havens like Bermuda — putting them outside the U.S. tax net. That led American companies to amass more than $1 trillion offshore as of the end of 2017, when President Trump’s tax overhaul changed the treatment of overseas profits.

Problems with wishes — Charlie Huenemann (Utah State) converses with the genie in the bottle

Executive pay is out of control


Joe Hockey hits taxpayers with $45000 garden party bill – but ...




  • Is corporation tax good or bad for growth?  (8 Jan 2020)
  • IMF boss says raise taxes on the rich to tackle inequality  (8 Jan 2020)
  • EU weighs plastics waste tax to plug 'Brexit gap' in budget  (8 Jan 2020)
  • HMRC catches only 13% of firms paying below minimum wage (8 Jan 2020)
  • Shadow banking is growing, remains opaque and carries uncertain risks for the economy   (8 Jan 2020)
  • Woodford bags £9m dividend in year before collapse  (8 Jan 2020)
  • Pope Francis: Corruption is Worse than a Sin  (8 Jan 2020)
  • How bureaucracies make corruption attractive  (8 Jan 2020)
  • VAT ruling on Times digital edition could save News UK millions  (7 Jan 2020)
  • Firms linked to tax havens profit from NHS recruitment crisis  (7 Jan 2020)
  • 'Hasty' and 'meaningless': Industry responds to IR35 review  (7 Jan 2020)
  • Black money probe: Tax haven trusts come under scanner   (7 Jan 2020)
  • Guernsey to stay on Netherlands tax blacklist  (7 Jan 2020)
  • France and US seek to resolve digital tax dispute  (7 Jan 2020)
  • Revolving Doors: Former Downing Street Chief joins PwC as Strategic Advisor  (7 Jan 2020)
  • Five tax changes to prepare for in the Chancellor's March 11 budget (7 Jan 2020)
  • France warns US against digital tax retaliation  (6 Jan 2020)
  • Tax haven trusts under scanner for Swiss bank accounts  (6 Jan 2020)
  • Video games are easy channel for money launderers  (3 Jan 2020)
  • Google to end use of 'double Irish' as tax loophole set to close  (2 Jan 2020)
  • Private Equity Is Starting 2020 With More Cash Than Ever Before  (2 Jan 2020)
  • The wealth of the 500 richest people in the world grew by an astronomical 25% in 2019 (31 Dec 2019)
  • French government to scan social media for tax cheats   (27 Dec 2019)
  • Italy Follows France in Levying a Digital Tax  (24 Dec 2019)
  • Disguised remuneration: Independent loan charge review Report   (20 Dec 2019)
  • UK Government to take new actions on loan schemes following Morse review  (20 Dec 2019)
  • THE QUEEN’S SPEECH 2019  (19 Dec 2019)
  • Second home-owners must watch out for a new capital gains tax grab  (18 Dec 2019)
  • Six tax-based ways to tackle US income inequality  (17 Dec 2019)
  • Shell reveals it paid no UK corporate income tax in 2018  (17 Dec 2019)
  • Corporate taxes: MEPs want to tackle tax avoidance by large companies  (17 Dec 2019)
  • Lawyers say 'tax haven' is a dirty word in Panama Papers case  (15 Dec 2019)
  • HSBC Swiss unit fined $192m over US tax evasion  (11 Dec 2019)
  • How Britain's tax havens imperilled the welfare state  (10 Dec 2019)
  • US threatens tax on champagne and French cheese  (2 Dec 2019)
  • New study deems Amazon worst for 'aggressive' tax avoidance  (1 Dec 2019)
  • Here's how Britain's tax system is rigged against the many  (15 Nov 2019)
  • MEPs plan clampdown on online platforms to close €5bn VAT gap  (15 Nov 2019)