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Sirius, you will find me eager to propose solutions for Europe -- perhaps, speaking of solutions, the Brussels crowd might be more energetic in actual problem solving if the were advocates of Sherlock Holmes 2% solution.

Sirius, you will find me eager to propose solutions for Europe -- perhaps, speaking of solutions, the Brussels crowd might be more energetic in actual problem solving if the were advocates of Sherlock Holmes 2% solution.

Don't know that one..can it be googled?

Edit: Never mind, just twigged...lol

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It looks as if the Spanish banks are in for a really rough time. The IMF say they need at least 40 billion wotevers just to stabilise them. Now where is that 40 billion wotevers going to come from? Is it going to be from the IMF, or the Spanish government, or the ECB, or "the markets". Where ever it comes from its going to cost them a lot more than 40 billion wotevers to pay it back, so Spain is in some sort of trap here....

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Spain has a fairly large, and well established, "black economy".
Although the official unemployed figure is around 25% in reality there are a lot of those who work for cash (going rate is about 50 Euro a day), pay no tax, and don't appear on anyone's books. I doubt this will change in a hurry as this is how Spain has worked for many, many years...

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Think this probably sums up the problem with all the southern europen states. If half of the evaded taxes were paid then they wouldn't be in this position.

Greek chief tax inspector says Christine Lagarde right to criticise evasion

And it's things like his that should have been sorted out before monetary union was considered.

Sadly option 5 is all too true in some parts of the UK :-(

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Tax avoidance = legal (but immoral)

Really? Immoral?

Isn't it immoral to not provide your spouse and children with the best you are capable of? If a corporation isn't it illegal to not maximize return to the shareholder?

Does the immorality depend on what is done with the money? Would it be immoral to give the money not paid by avoidance to a registered charity?

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Would it be immoral to give the money not paid by avoidance to a registered charity?

That's part of the Tax Avoidance - not all the funds gained from that are going to charities.

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Oh my, matters are getting slightly hot.....

Snub for Cameron as Obama attacks "risky" austerity

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REGARDLESS of the "tabloid" that the report comes from, it IS STILL a very interesting report....

UK must get a referendum on Europe

Personally, I can't see that ever happening becaue there is too much money at stake.

One point in the report which is what I've stated already is this: -

"They're damned if they do & they're damned if they don't"

So, rather than to continue wasting money & time, all euro zone nations should return to their own currencies asap, the fallout will still hurt but it won't be as bad as when the euro will fail, which it will - the question is ....

....Not if but WHEN"

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Does the immorality depend on what is done with the money? Would it be immoral to give the money not paid by avoidance to a registered charity?

I think you are muddying the waters here. Taxes should be paid within the spirit of the tax laws. The fact that clever accountants can find technical loopholes in the tax law, does not negate the basic fact that tax was "intended" to be paid. Giving any savings to a charity, that in itself subject to tax relief, does not alter the basic premise.

Isn't the spirit of the tax law to collect the tax due and no more? Presumably any loophole in the tax code is there for a public reason. So what is the spirit of the law? (Assuming you didn't lobby for creation of the loophole which is a different discussion) Or is the spirit of the law a flat tax that has no deductions.

What make a particular deduction a loophole? Is it, if you can use it? Is it how many can use it? It is the obscurity? Is it, I think "they" should pay more?

Sorry but the waters were muddy before I got here.

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No offence to anyone, but I think that discussion of any nations tax laws are taking this topic off on another tangent. Tax law itself deserves a thread all to itself, due to the complexities of the laws & companies/individuals take on those laws.

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Thanks Chris. Tax & its payment, avoidance & evasion is too hot a topic for this thread.

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The outcome of this weeks meeting between Merkel & Cameron



"you're not getting away that easy"

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" Ya wanna leave the Euro, Punk? Go ahead, make my day! I'm gonna love turning the tap off"

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Oh my, matters are getting slightly hot.....

Snub for Cameron as Obama attacks "risky" austerity

Just rhetoric coming from Obama. He knows that if Europe follows the austerity
route then this will continue to impact on American exports. He does no care if Europe
goes deeper into debt by raising more loans just as long as they do hence
keep buying American goods with some of this cash. Unfortunately Obama is
not all that smart for he let the cat out of the bag last week when he stated
that if Europe goes further into recession and business continue to contract
this will have a serious effect on American exports. A snub, may be, but not
one many leaders in Europe will worry about for they know the real reason behind
his statement.

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The Kite Fliers

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Kite fliers: An imaginary club of solo members, those who don't yet
belong to a formal team so "fly their own kites" - as the saying goes.

Nick, if Europe keeps on the austerity route, it might also adversely affect the Germany-Merkel exports as well.

The people concerned have already seen the writing on the wall & either are preparing or have prepared for the eventual collapse of the Euro.

Cameron calls for action

All this guy wants to is fix the issues with the Euro - impossible, everyone knows it was broken to start with.

Nick stated that there could be another 2 to 3 years begore we see the end of the recession - maybe so, & if that is the case, it'll still be at least another 5 years on top of that before full recovery has been attained.

So that equates to a total of 12 years. Think it would have been a lot simpler for all in the Eurozone to just return to their own currencies - the pain would have been sharper but lasting a hell lot less that the current pain.

Sorry Ozzie, beat you to it & I'm no politician or economist, so what you been doing for the past few months?

Osborne: UK's recovery being "killed" by Euro crisis

You haven't secretly logged in here by any chance?

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2 interesting reports, but imv, conflicting.....

Banks in a "Zombie Zone

Ozzie to beef up New Regulators powers

Ya wanna beef up, then use this guy, Sir "Beefy", he'll probably save the banks for you :)

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