From April, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) will be able to demand a security from companies when the taxman considers there is a “serious risk” that the business will try to dodge PAYE or National Insurance Contributions (NICs). As they say: Tax officials added that the “amount of tax at risk, the employer’s previous behaviour

Compared to other policy areas, environment still remains the Cinderella of the European budget, where allocations amount to just over €2 billion compared to research which gets more than €50 billion for the FP7. Negotiations on the next EU budget 2014-2020 will be crucial, said Commissioner Janez Potočnik in an interview with EurActiv Slovakia.  More »

Today the TaxPayers’ Alliance has released new research which shows that the average family pays £656,000 in taxes over their lifetime. That tax payment is around and about equal to the amount which, if saved over the years, would put said household into the top 10% in terms of wealth (850k in net assets). And

            Defra has recently published a large amount of material on climate change. It needed to do so under the last government’s  legislation, to produce a “risk assessment”. I went along to hear about it from the Chief Scientist and Secretary of State, and have read more about it on their website.    ...

The film “Iron Lady” starring Meryl Streep has attracted a fair amount of Tory ire. Rob Wilson, MP for Reading East said in the House of Commons: This week I attended the screening of The Iron Lady and was disturbed by the way in which the film portrayed its subject. Can we therefore have a

Labour's John Denham MP has reacted to news that Liverpool has been asked to pay a higher amount of their UK grants in order to ensure fair competition before the city's application for turnaround cruises can be permitted. Liverpool has been told by Mike Penning MP, Minister for Transport, that he is "minded that a higher proportion of the UK grants ought to be repaid in order to ensure ...

If we're talking about 6.65% of the body weight gained during pregancy then that's a good thing, but if it's the amount the annual return on a pension plan missed its assumptions, then not so good! This is a follow-up to the article "The Public Pension Time Bomb!" that discussed the ballooning pension liabilities of towns, cities and states coupled with shrinking tax bases, shrinkin...

Public pensions are an apropos topic on the day of the State of the Union Address (#SOTU) when President Obama will be doing one of the things he does best which is pandering to the unions! This pandering will be particularly evident in an election year when the Obama reelection campaign is looking to raise a record dollar amount of political contributions! The ticking time bomb! Most if not all o...

At the time they stated: “Where there is a valid polygamous marriage the claimant and one spouse will be paid the couple rate … The amount payable for each additional spouse is presently £33.65.” This has subsequently been increased to £38.45 a week for second and subsequent spouses, while the husband and his first wife

Ukraine will not buy the amount of gas from Russia set out in a 2009 bilateral agreement which Kiev says is unfair, Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has said, setting the tone for a new round of gas price talks. More »