Wakey Wakey

 

 

 

Mickey Clark on Wake Up To Money woke up to a nightmare.

Normally he blithely ignores everything his guests tell him and continues with his pro-Labour spiel.

Tell him repeatedly that Japan pumped billions into its economy and he will immediately say that Japan of course didn’t stimulate its economy and look what happened….subtext…Osborne should have been using ‘Plan B’ and spent like mad.

Tell him business is picking up and exports are growing positively and he will say of course the recovery is on dodgy ground…any growth is based on unsustainable consumer spending and borrowing.

Tell him employment is rising and it’s a puzzle to him, it just can’t be possible.

 

Today he got hit straight between the eyes, repeatedly, and forgot to duck. (from 18 mins 10 s)

 

Price Waterhouse Cooper have released a report into corporate tax and stated to what must be Clark’s great dismay, that the reason the government coffers were a bit light was because of a fall in North Sea Oil revenue….but…but…but…surely it’s because they’re all tax dodgers? the BBC opined….or rather….ahem…aggressive tax planners.

No…PWC said firmly…it’s because of a fall in North Sea Oil production. Choke.

So all the controversy about corporation tax, usually driven by the grandstanding Margaret Hodge (Labour), was mostly baloney.

PWC also said that because of the international nature of business and the difficulty of collecting tax  based on profits from international companies, and the fact that a profits tax distorts investment,  governments are moving to make up the shortfall with labour, property and other taxes as these can’t be off shored….and importantly provide a stable tax income and attractive tax regime for companies wanting to locate here….and which, though paying less corporate tax, as there are more companies the take will eventually go up.

 

 

This from 2013:

Corporation tax made up just a third of big companies’ tax bills in 2012, down from half in 2005, according to a report by finance directors from the Hundred Group……..[but] their overall tax payments rose by 19 per cent between 2005 and 2012, they said.

Although the amount of corporation tax paid had fallen by 17 per cent, other tax payments had increased by 58 per cent over the same period.

Andrew Bonfield, chairman of the tax committee of the Hundred Group, said the changes reflected the policy of successive governments looking for stable tax revenues and economic growth.

“We’re in the middle of a well trailed programme for reducing the rate of corporation tax while other business taxes, such as employer’s national insurance contributions and irrecoverable VAT, have risen,” he said. “These other taxes tend to be easier to collect and less volatile since they’re not dependent on profits.”

The intense public interest in corporate tax, fuelled by accusations by MPs about the tax planning undertaken by multinationals such as Amazon, Google and Starbucks, was at times ill-informed and risked sending a negative message that would undermine the government’s efforts to attract business to the UK, the committee said in its report.

…and the uptick in National insurance tax revenue shows employment figures are being confirmed and wages outstrip inflation…at least in the top 100 companies.

Another BBC myth falls….two in fact right there.

 

And another….Ian Steely fund manager at J.P. Morgan Asset Management also undermined one of Clark’s cherished ‘truths’…..

China is trying to control its economy and stop it overheating…..by reining in exports and encouraging domestic consumer spending…..must be a bit of a shock to Clark who thinks domestic consumer spending is not a sensible policy…only exports can boost GDP.