How the UK Treasury could be losing four times as much tax as it thinks it fails to collect – that would be £40 billion each year
May 22nd, 2014 by Roger Darlington
“The size of the total gap between what taxpayers owe and what they pay was last year estimated by HMRC to be £35m, or 7%, shortfall for 2011/12, but that includes legal and illegal tax dodging, fraud and errors. It said the shadow economy and evasion was costing it £10.5bn.”
BUT:
“The Treasury is losing £40bn a year due to a shadow economy where firms and individuals deliberately hide sales from the taxman, according to a leading tax justice campaigner, Richard Murphy. His findings, if correct, would make the scale of tax evasion from sales going unreported to HMRC four times as big official figures suggest.
The report, published on Monday, has been swiftly rejected by HMRC as “seriously flawed”, although the tax campaigner said it had been peer reviewed by academics and other tax experts.”
See full story here.
As a comparison, note that the Department of Work and Pensions estimates benefit fraud costs £1 billion a year. Putting that in some kind of perspective, the Department expects to spend a total of £148 billion on benefits, including income support, housing benefit, disability and unemployment payments and more. A billion pounds going AWOL isn’t to be sniffed at, but it’s worth pointing out that it’s just 0.7 per cent of total spending on these benefits.
So, why doesn’t the media give 10 times – or even 40 times – as much coverage to tax evasion as benefit fraud?
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)
How to survive a walk down ‘chugger alley’
May 21st, 2014 by Roger Darlington
The term ‘chugger’ has been coined for a charity mugger, someone who tries to stop you in the street and sign you up to a particular charity. You’ll find a fuller – and less kind – description – here.
Now I’m fine about contributing to charities. I support many on an ongoing basis. But I like to choose the charities I fund in the privacy of my own home. I really dislike a stranger in a street trying to sign me up for a charity and this happens a lot in central London.
In fact, usually, these chuggers work in groups, often in a busy street, so that walking that route becomes something of an obstacle course.
One of the worst streets in London for his phenomenon is Villiers Street – what I call ‘chugger alley’ – which is narrow and has tube station entrances at either end, so that it is often the haunt of a chugger team.
I have two techniques – seemingly contradictory – for avoiding them.
- On entering the scene where I believe chuggers might be operating, I look way ahead to spot them. Usually they wear coloured shirts and carry clip boards, so they’re not hard to identify.
- As I approach each chugger, I skirt around them as far as possible and, since they sometimes attempt to call out and engage in conversation anyway, I stare at the ground and pretend that I have heard nothing.
Have you ever experienced chugging?
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (2)
The American dream has now become the Canadian (and European) dream
May 20th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Who says so? An American: two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize Nicholas Kristof.
In this piece for the “New York Times”; he argues:
“… today the American dream has derailed, partly because of growing inequality. Or maybe the American dream has just swapped citizenship, for now it is more likely to be found in Canada or Europe — and a central issue in this year’s political campaigns should be how to repatriate it.
A report last month in The Times by David Leonhardt and Kevin Quealy noted that the American middle class is no longer the richest in the world, with Canada apparently pulling ahead in median after-tax income. Other countries in Europe are poised to overtake us as well.”
It’s time for Americans to stop thinking it’s the land of opportunity. It is for a few – but for most it’s a land of growing inequality.
Posted in American current affairs | Comments (0)
How in 1945 the American Brigadier General Bonner Fellers was instrumental in saving the Japanese Emperor Hirohito from execution as a war criminal
May 19th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
We all know that, after its defeat in World War Two, the Japanese were allowed to retain their emperor, although merely in a ceremonial role and without his previous god-like status. But who made the decision and why?
Although the decision was made by General Douglas MacArthur on pragmatic grounds, a key role was played by a little-known American soldier called Brigadier General Bonner Fellers whose story has been told in the recent film “Emperor” which I saw a few days ago. You can read my review here.
The shots in the film of the Imperial Palace Gardens in Tokyo reminded me of my visit to Japan in 1998.
Posted in Cultural issues, History | Comments (0)
My Thought For The Week now 15 years old – have you signed up for it?
May 18th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
“Life isn’t a matter of milestones but of moments.”
American philanthropist Rose Kennedy (1890-1995)
Thought For The Week No 750
Fifteen years ago, I saw a quote in a newspaper, liked it, and sent it in an e-mail to the 12 people who worked with me in the Research Department of the Communication Workers Union. Every week since then, I’ve circulated a new thought and this weekend the number reached the milestone of 750. I know: life isn’t a matter of milestones ….
The circulation list has grown and grown and now exceeds 2,100, reaching all around the world. This week’s thought heads up this posting. If you’d like to see what you’ve missed, you can access all the thoughts here. If you would like to be on the circulation list e-mail me.
Posted in Miscellaneous | Comments (0)
Reviews of two “Godzilla” movies
May 18th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
In 1998, there was a disappointing American version of the Japanese monster tale [see my review here], but this weekend we saw the release of a much superior re-boot of the franchise [see my review here].
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
Best week ever for Roger Darlington’s World – thanks
May 17th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
The number of visits to my web site – which includes this personal blog and my professional blog – varies throughout the week (obviously weekdays are higher than weekends) and throughout the year (again obviously holiday seasons see less traffic).
But this past week has been really encouraging with an average for the five working days of 10,500 visits each day. Thank you so much for your interest and support. Please spread the word – and I always welcome comments on posts.
Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)
Love is a many splendoured thing – except in 76 countries where being gay is illegal
May 17th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
“Five countries – Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen – still have a statutory death penalty for homosexuality, while a further 71 countries punish same-sex couples with lesser sentences of imprisonment or corporal punishment.
In total, 2.79 billion people live in countries where being gay can lead to prison or death – seven times as many as live in countries with same-sex marriage.”
See news item here.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
Two versions of the early life of author Jeanette Winterson
May 16th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
Not so long ago, I read the memoir of Jeanette Winterson which has the wonderful title “Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?” (2011). You can read my review here.
This week, I finally got round to reading Winterson’s first novel, “Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit” (1985). You can read my review here.
These books are a fascinating pair: the first is a biography but written with novelistic flourishes, while the second is a novel but clearly inspired by Winterson’s actual experiences of her emergent lesbianism.
Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)
How the rich get richer and richer – and richer
May 16th, 2014 by Roger Darlington
In this news story, it is explained that:
Britain’s richest 1% have accumulated as much wealth as the poorest 55% of the population put together, according to the latest official analysis of who owns the nation’s £9.5tn of property, pensions and financial assets.
In figures that also lay bare the extent of inequality across the north-south divide, the Office for National Statistics said household wealth in the south-east had been rising five times as fast as across the whole country.
How should we react to such inequality? This is one response:
Rachael Orr, Oxfam’s head of poverty in the UK said the figures were a “shocking chapter in a tale of two Britains”.The charity recently reported that five billionaire families controlled the same wealth as 20% of the population.
“It is further evidence of increasing inequality at a time when five rich families have the same wealth as 12 million people,” she said. “We need our politicians to grasp the nettle and make the narrowing gap between the richest and poorest a top priority. It cannot be right that in Britain today a small elite are getting richer and richer while millions are struggling to make ends meet.”
Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)