The International Monetary Fund (IMF) offered a blunt message to international policymakers in advance of its annual meeting earlier this month: By cutting taxes for the wealthy, politicians are jeopardizing economic growth globally and undermining prosperity.
The French banking company BNP Paribas lost a £35 million tax avoidance case with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the UK government department responsible for tax collection.
The city of Amsterdam is reportedly planning to institute a tourist tax to curb the influx of visitors into the city. Tourism has increased dramatically in Amsterdam in recent years, sparking protest from locals. T
Trump famously resisted all calls to release his tax returns in the 2016 presidential elections, claiming victory in spite of refusing to release the returns. But could he be forced to disclose his tax returns if he were to run again in 2020? Lawmakers in California hope so.
British MPs have accused major online retailer Amazon of evading VAT at the expense of taxpayers. VAT, or value added tax, is a 20 percent consumption tax added to goods and services that are bought and sold in the European Union. In the UK, all companies with a turnover that is greater than £85,000 must register with the government to pay VAT.
Over the course of the past several weeks, President Trump has consistently called for tax reform, and the Senate Finance Committee has scheduled hearings on both business and individual tax reform.
A former banker working at Credit Suisse in Switzerland was sentenced after pleading guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States in Virginia. Susanne Rüegg Meier, formerly a manager at the bank, helped numerous Americans conceal millions of dollars in offshore accounts, allowing them to evade their tax responsibilities.
More than a year after their release, the Panama Papers continue to make political waves across the globe. Most recently, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif found himself embroiled in the scandal – and has been removed from office and is facing criminal charges as a result.
High tax rates might not be good for your wallet, but they could be good for your overall happiness, according to the recently released United Nations World Happiness Report. According to the report, the world’s three happiest countries – Norway, Denmark, and Iceland, respectively – are all also the jurisdictions with the highest tax rates in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) when considering their total tax revenue as a percentage of GDP.
European Union Finance Ministers are reportedly in talks around ensuring home-sharing platforms – including Airbnb – pay their fair share of taxes.