Firms to speak on tax avoidance

12 November 2012 Last updated at 02:58 ET

Executives from some of the world’s most-recognised companies are due to give evidence before Parliament on Monday on the issue of tax avoidance.

The head of Google UK, as well as top managers from Starbucks and Amazon, will speak before the Public Accounts Committee on taxing multinationals.

All have been accused of paying little or no tax on their UK earnings.

Many global firms create corporate entities in low-tax jurisdictions for the purposes of paying tax.

For example, a firm may design a product or an app for a smartphone in the US, have it made in Asia and sell it in the UK. But the company – or a regional unit – may be legally incorporated in a fourth place with less onerous tax laws.

The question is then which country’s tax authorities should get the tax receipts and over what share of the sales.

Taxed in the UK

Matt Brittin, the chief executive of Google UK, as well as Starbucks chief financial officer Troy Alstead and Amazon’s director of public policy Andrew Cecil, will speak before the committee, which is headed by Margaret Hodge.

In recent months, many multinationals have been subjected to bad publicity over their tax arrangements:

Continue reading the main story

Corporation tax for [multinationals] operating in the UK is close to being a voluntary payment”

End Quote Lord Myners

Most of the firms have said that they meet all their legal obligations on tax in the UK and around the world.

The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) is holding a public consultation in Paris this week on international tax systems and has received 1,400 pages of comments on the subject.

Marlies de Ruitter, tax expert at the OECD, says there is a problem: “We have seen countries creating tax incentives to attract investment.

“We have also seen that countries are hesitant to introduce strict anti-avoidance rules, because if they are stricter than others, businesses will leave. An international, co-ordinated effort is needed.”

The former City minister, Lord Myners, said the current system did not work. “Corporation tax for [multinationals] operating in the UK is close to being a voluntary payment,” he said.

“You either shrug your shoulders and say you get benefits from secondary effects though employment taxes, VAT, the multiplier effect, and so on. Or alternatively, you look for some other form of taxation.”

Lord Myners recommended considering some form of sales tax.

BBC News – Business

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Israel kills Gaza rocket crewman in second day of clashes

GAZA (Reuters) – An Israeli air strike killed a Palestinian militant in the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip on Sunday as a surge in cross-border violence entered its second day, local officials said.

Islamic Jihad, a smaller faction than Hamas which often operates independently, identified the dead man as one of its own, saying he was a member of a rocket crew hit by an Israeli missile in Jabalya, northern Gaza.

The Israeli military confirmed carrying out an air strike in the area. The death brought to six the number of Palestinians killed by Israel since four of its troops were hurt in a missile attack on their jeep along the Gaza boundary fence.

Islamic Jihad said it had fired 70 short-range rockets and mortar bombs across the border since Saturday, salvoes which drove Israeli residents to blast shelters. At least one Israeli, in the town of Sderot, was wounded, ambulance workers said.

Israel described the jeep ambush as part of a Palestinian strategy of trying to curb its countermeasures against possible cross-border infiltration. Israeli forces often mount hunts for tunnels and landmines on the inside of the Gaza boundary, creating a no-go zone for Palestinians.

“Of course we don’t accept their attempt to change the rules,” Defence Minister Ehud Barak told Israel’s Army Radio.

“The essence of the struggle is over the fence. We intend to enable the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) to work not just on our side but on the other side as well.”

Palestinians said four of Saturday’s dead were civilians hit by an Israeli tank shell while paying respects at a crowded mourning tent in Gaza’s Shijaia neighborhood. Israel denies targeting civilians.

The bloodshed puts internal pressure on Hamas, which, though hostile to the Jewish state, has sat out some of the recent rounds of violence as it tried to consolidate its Gaza rule and reach out to neighboring Egypt and other foreign powers.

Israel blames Hamas for any attacks emanating from Gaza, but has shown little appetite for a major sweep of the territory which might strain its own fraught ties to the new Islamist-rooted government in Cairo.

(Writing by Dan Williams; Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Editing by Todd Eastham)

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How Apple’s iPad Mini compares with rivals

The iPad Mini is just one of several tablets of its size. Here’s a look at how the Mini compares with other tablets with comparable screens.

Apple Inc.’s iPad Mini

— Price: $ 329 for base model with Wi-Fi only and 16 gigabytes of storage, $ 429 with 32 GB, $ 529 with 64 GB. Add $ 130 for versions with cellular capability.

— Screen size: 7.9 inches diagonally

— Screen resolution: 1024 by 768 pixels

— Weight: 0.68 pound (0.69 pound for cellular versions)

— Cameras: 5-megapixel camera on back and a low-resolution camera on front, for videoconferencing

— Battery life: 10 hours

— Operating system: Apple‘s iOS

Pros: Unmatched access to third-party applications, high-quality Apple software and the iTunes store. High-resolution screen. Available with access to fast 4G wireless broadband networks, starting at $ 459. Larger-screen version available.

Cons: Data storage cannot be expanded with memory cards.

Barnes & Noble Inc.‘s Nook HD

— Price: $ 199 with 8 gigabytes of storage, $ 229 with 16 GB

— Screen size: 7 inches diagonally

— Screen resolution: 1440 by 900 pixels

— Weight: 0.69 pound

— Cameras: None

— Battery life: Up to 10.5 hours of reading and up to 9 hours of video

— Operating system: Modified version of Google‘s Android

Pros: Expandable with microSD card. High-definition screen. Larger-screen version available.

Cons: Selection of third-party applications is small. Lacks cameras and option for cellular broadband.

Amazon.com Inc.‘s Kindle Fire HD.

— Price: $ 199 with 16 gigabytes of storage, $ 249 with 32 GB

— Screen size: 7 inches diagonally

— Screen resolution: 1280 by 800 pixels

— Weight: 0.87 pound.

— Cameras: Front-facing camera.

— Battery life: 11 hours.

— Operating system: Modified version of Google’s Android

Pros: Cheap and portable. Convenient access to Amazon store. High-definition screen. Dolby audio. Larger-screen version coming Nov. 20, including option for cellular broadband.

Cons: Small selection of third-party applications available from Amazon. No rear camera for taking video and photos. Data storage cannot be expanded with memory cards.

Amazon.com Inc.’s regular Kindle Fire:

— Price: $ 159 with 8 gigabytes of storage

— Screen size: 7 inches diagonally

— Screen resolution: 1024 by 600 pixels

— Weight: 0.88 pounds

— Cameras: none

— Battery life: 8.5 hours.

— Operating system: Modified version of Google’s Android

Pros: Cheap and portable. Convenient access to Amazon store.

Cons: No-frills tablet lacks camera and microphone. Small selection of third-party applications available from Amazon. Data storage cannot be expanded with memory cards. No option for cellular wireless broadband.

Google Inc.’s Nexus 7

— Price: $ 199 with 16 gigabytes of storage, $ 249 with 32 GB. Add $ 50 for 32 GB model with cellular capability (available Nov. 13).

— Screen size: 7 inches diagonally

— Screen resolution: 1280 x 800 pixels

— Weight: 0.75 pounds

— Cameras: Front-facing, 1.2 megapixel camera

— Battery life: 8 hours

— Operating system: Google’s Android

Pros: Access to a variety of games, utilities and other software for Android devices, though not as extensive as apps available for iPad. Option for cellular wireless broadband.

Cons: Integrates with Google Play store, which is still new and isn’t as robust as Apple or Amazon’s stores. Data storage cannot be expanded with memory cards.

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Will “The Simpsons” finally win an Oscar?

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) – “The Simpsons” may get another shot at an Oscar thanks to a short starring Maggie Simpson, the youngest member of the yellow family from Springfield.

The Academy has narrowed its list for the Animated Short Award from 56 to 10, it announced on Friday, and that list includes “Maggie Simpson in ‘The Longest Daycare.’” The short, written by “Simpsons” lifers like James L. Brooks and Matt Groening, aired before screenings of “Ice Age: Continental Drift.”

The four-and-a-half-minute 3D short pits Maggie against her nemesis, Baby Gerald.

The Academy shut “The Simpsons Movie” out of the 2008 awards, prompting the legendary animated show to mock the Oscars before the 2011 awards.

The nominations for the 85th Academy Awards will be announced January 10, 2013 and the awards themselves will take place February 24 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

Here are the nine other short-list nominees for best animated short:

“Adam and Dog,” Minkyu Lee, director (Lodge Films)

“Combustible,” Katsuhiro Otomo, director (Sunrise Inc.)

“Dripped,” Léo Verrier, director (ChezEddy)

“The Eagleman Stag,” Mikey Please, director, and Benedict Please, music scores and sound design (Royal College of Art)

“The Fall of the House of Usher,” Raul Garcia, director, and Stephan Roelants, producer (Melusine Productions, R&R Communications Inc., Les Armateurs, The Big Farm)

“Fresh Guacamole,” PES, director (PES)

“Head Over Heels,” Timothy Reckart, director, and Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly, producer (National Film and Television School)

“Maggie Simpson in “The Longest Daycare”,” David Silverman, director (Gracie Films)

“Paperman,” John Kahrs, director (Disney Animation Studios)

“Tram,” Michaela Pavlátová, director, and Ron Dyens, producer (Sacrebleu Productions)

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U.S. investigator in Afghan rampage case suggests gunman not alone

TACOMA, Washington (Reuters) – The wife of an Afghan villager killed in a rampage blamed on a decorated U.S. officer told an Army investigator that more than one soldier was present when her husband was shot dead at their home in March, the investigator testified on Saturday.

Military prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, accusing him of killing 16 villagers, mostly women and children, when he ventured out of his remote camp on two revenge-fueled forays over a five-hour period in March.

The wife’s account, relayed by Army criminal investigator Leona Mansapit, appeared to cast doubt on the government’s case that Bales alone was responsible for the deaths, although survivors have so far testified to seeing only a single soldier.

The U.S. government, which has been laying out its case against Bales in a pre-trial hearing aimed at deciding whether he can be sent for court martial, says a coherent and lucid Bales acted alone and with “chilling premeditation”.

Mansapit said that the wife of Mohamed Dawood, who was killed in the village of Najiban, recalled a gunman entering the couple’s room shouting about the Taliban, while another man, a U.S. soldier, stood at the door.

The shootings in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province marked the worst case of civilian slaughter blamed on an individual U.S. soldier since the Vietnam War and damaged already strained U.S.-Afghan relations.

Mansapit said the wife, who spoke to her through an interpreter, said one of the men pulled her husband out of the door, while the other stopped her from following. One of the men then put a gun to her husband’s head and killed him, while the other continued to yell about the Taliban, grabbing her by the hair and slamming her head against the wall, she said.

Mansapit, who was called by the defense, recalled the woman as saying that outside there were more soldiers “speaking English among themselves”. She put the woman’s age at about 25 but did not name her. It was not immediately clear whether the wife would testify to the hearing herself.

The testimony came a day after a father and two sons described being attacked by a sole U.S. soldier in their family compound in the Afghan village of Alkozai. So far, the only sworn references to more than one soldier have been second hand.

AFGHAN TESTIMONY

A veteran of four combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, Bales faces 16 counts of premeditated murder and six counts of attempted murder, as well as charges of assault and wrongfully possessing and using steroids and alcohol while deployed.

Prosecutors have already presented physical evidence to tie Bales to the crime scene, with a forensic investigator saying a sample of blood on his clothing matched a swab taken in one of the compounds where the shooting occurred.

Bales’ lawyers have not set out an alternative theory to the prosecution’s case, but have pointed out inconsistencies in testimony and highlighted incidents before the shooting where Bales lost his temper easily, possibly setting up an argument that he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Gathering evidence and witness statements was complicated by the speedy burial of victims, the inability of U.S. investigators to access the crime scenes for three weeks after the violence, and the dispersal of possible witnesses after treatment at a Kandahar hospital.

Bales’ lead civil defense attorney John Henry Browne, who is in Kandahar to question witnesses, complained early in the investigation that his team was denied access to villagers wounded in the attacks.

One of the villagers, a 15-year-old boy who was wounded in the rampage in Alkozai but survived by hiding, testified to the hearing at a U.S. Army base in Washington state that the shooter wore a U.S. military uniform.

“He put his pistol in my sister’s mouth and then my grandmother started wrestling with him,” the boy, introduced to the court by the single name of Rafiullah, said via video link from Kandahar Air Field. “He shot me in my legs.”

The boy’s testimony was consistent with the recollections of another teenage boy, Sadiquallah, who testified previously that he saw only a single American that night.

(Reporting By Bill Rigby; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Pravin Char)

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Which? calls for fuel duty delay

10 November 2012 Last updated at 21:46 ET

Consumer organisation Which? is calling for a delay to the increase in fuel duty planned for January.

MPs will vote on Monday on the planned 3p a litre increase. Labour has previously said the increase should be postponed until at least April.

Which? said 85% of people it surveyed had expressed concerns about rising fuel prices.

Pollsters Populus interviewed 2,100 UK adults on behalf of Which? online between October 26 and 28.

The survey suggested 39% of people would cut back on motoring costs, while one in 10 said they had used savings to cover motoring costs.

Which? also said the figures showed 8.7 million households curbed their spending on essentials last month, while 6.4 million households used savings to cover outgoings.

The organisation’s executive director Richard Lloyd said: “Rising fuel prices are the number one consumer worry and people are already telling us they’re having to cut back and dip into savings just to get by.

Continue reading the main story

The government recognises that the rising price of petrol is a significant part of households’ day-to-day spending”

End Quote Treasury spokesman

“On the back of inflation-busting energy bill rises and increasing food prices, consumers can little afford another hit on their household budget. We’re calling on the government to think again about their plans to increase fuel duty in January.

“The forthcoming Autumn Statement must focus on measures that will help put money back in the pockets of consumers, because the economic recovery is at risk if we don’t increase consumer confidence.”

Previous delay

Shadow treasury minister Cathy Jamieson said: “Families, pensioners and businesses are still feeling the squeeze. Labour will vote on Monday for a delay in this fuel duty increase at least until next April.”

The duty increase was originally to be introduced last August, but in June Chancellor George Osborne announced that he was postponing it for five months.

At the time Mr Osborne told the Commons the delay was being funded by what he called “larger-than-forecast savings in departmental budgets.”

A Treasury spokesman said: “The government recognises that the rising price of petrol is a significant part of households’ day-to-day spending.

“Since coming to office the government has listened to the concerns of motorists about high pump prices and acted. Fuel is now 10p a litre lower than under the previous government’s plans.”

BBC News – Business

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Twin explosions strike southern Syrian city

BEIRUT (AP) — Syria‘s state-run news agency says two large explosions have struck the southern city of Daraa, causing multiple casualties and heavy material damage.

SANA did not immediately give further information or say what the target of Saturday’s explosions was.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the blasts went off near a branch of the country’s Military Intelligence in Daraa.

The Observatory, which relies on a network of activists on the ground, says the explosions were followed by clashes between regime forces and rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad.

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Justice Department antitrust chief Wayland to step down next week

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The acting head of the U.S. Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, Joseph Wayland, will step down as of November 16, a department spokeswoman said on Thursday.

No one has been named to be the acting assistant attorney general for antitrust, said the spokeswoman, Gina Talamona.

The position has been without a confirmed chief since Christine Varney left in mid-2011. Since then, the nomination of William Baer to succeed her has stalled in the Senate.

Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican Senator, has opposed Baer’s nomination but has not publicly said why.

Baer, a prominent attorney with the law firm Arnold & Porter LLP, was nominated in early February.

Wayland, whose family lives in New York, will return there, according to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported he was leaving. Before coming to the Justice Department, he specialized in complex business litigation, including antitrust and securities cases.

The Justice Department recruited Wayland in September 2010 to lead litigation efforts at the division, a hire that appears to have paid off.

President Barack Obama‘s Justice Department successfully opposed AT&T Inc’s planned $ 39 billion deal to acquire wireless rival T-Mobile USA and stopped NASDAQ OMX Group and IntercontinentalExchange Inc from buying NYSE Euronext.

But the department reached compromises on other deals, such as Ticketmaster’s purchase of Live Nation in 2010, Google Inc’s acquisitions of ticketing software company ITA and smartphone handset maker Motorola Mobility, and Verizon Wireless’ controversial plan to buy airwaves from cable operators.

The division is looking at price-fixing in industries as disparate as auto parts, optical disk drives and the derivatives market, as well as interest-rate manipulation and whether cable companies are trying to prevent the rise of Internet video as an alternative to television.

It has also sued Apple and two publishers – Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH’s Macmillan and Pearson Plc’s Penguin Group – accusing them of fixing prices of electronic books.

(Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

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Mick Jagger’s love letters to singer Marsha Hunt up for auction

(Reuters) – Love letters written by Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger to American singer Marsha Hunt, discussing poetry and his personal turmoil, will hit the auction block next month.

Hunt, with whom Jagger had his first child, Karis, told Britain’s Guardian newspaper she was selling the letters, written in July and August 1969, because she had been unable to pay her bills.

“I’m broke,” Hunt, who lives in France, told the newspaper.

The Guardian said on Friday the 10 letters would be sold by Sotheby’s on December 12.

The auction house values the letters from between 70,000 and 100,000 pounds ($ 111,000-$ 160,000).

Jagger wrote them to Hunt while filming the Tony Richardson movie “Ned Kelly” in Australia.

They are described as showing a sensitive side of the then-young singer, who wrote about the poetry of Emily Dickinson, meeting author Christopher Isherwood and an unrealized multimedia project.

Jagger’s relationship with Hunt, who is African-American, was kept under wraps until 1972.

“The sale is important,” Hunt told The Guardian. “Someone, I hope, will buy those letters as our generation is dying and with us will go the reality of who we were and what life was.”

Hunt has said she was the inspiration for the Rolling Stones‘ song “Brown Sugar,” which Jagger wrote while in Australia.

The rock star also cites in the letters the disintegration of his relationship with singer Marianne Faithful, whom he was also dating at the time, and the death of Rolling Stones’ guitarist Brian Jones.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Peter Cooney)

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States given more time to work on health exchanges

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration gave states extra time to work toward setting up new health insurance exchanges on Friday, days after President Barack Obama‘s re-election ensured the survival of his healthcare reform law.

The move is seen as a concession to dozens of states that delayed compliance with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act until after the November 6 election. Opponents of the plan had hoped a victory for Republican Mitt Romney would ultimately result in the law’s repeal.

But with Obama now heading into a second term, and a November 16 federal deadline to declare their plans looming, many states needed more time to prepare for exchanges, complex marketplaces meant to offer working families private insurance at federally subsidized rates beginning in 2014.

Since Tuesday’s election, seven states including Texas, Kansas, Virginia and Florida have said they will not pursue state-operated exchanges and conservative political donors are mounting a publicity campaign to encourage more defections.

But there are also signs that opposition could be waning in some states.

In cases where states decide not to participate, the federal government says it will go in and build an exchange on its own.

“The administration would like to do whatever it can to bring states in,” said Larry Levitt, a healthcare policy expert with the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, which tracks health issues.

“It’s always been expected that if the president got reelected, a lot of states sitting on the sidelines would realize they don’t want the federal government building a state health insurance system. That’s what we’re seeing happening.”

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a November 9 letter to governors that the administration still expects states to declare whether they intend to operate their own exchanges by next Friday.

But they now have until December 14 to file blueprints showing how they would operate the marketplaces. So far, about 13 states are well on their way to setting up their own exchanges.

States can also choose to develop their exchange in partnership with the federal government. As many as 30 could go that route.

Sebelius said states that prefer a partnership now have until February 15, 2013, to declare their intentions and prepare the appropriate paperwork. She said states can still apply to run exchanges in subsequent years but emphasized that the start date for coverage has not changed.

“Consumers in all 50 states and the District of Columbia will have access to insurance through these new marketplaces on January 1, 2014, as scheduled, with no delays,” she said in the letter, which described the deadline extension as a response to state requests for more time.

Analysts characterized the extension as a substantial offer from the federal government.

“It’s about as far as they reasonably could extend, knowing that the systems have to be ready by Oct 1, 2013,” said Patrick Howard, who advises states on healthcare issues for Deloitte.

The Affordable Care Act, the most sweeping health legislation since the 1960s, would extend health coverage to more than 30 million uninsured Americans. About half would receive coverage through a planned expansion of the Medicaid program for the poor, and the other half through the exchanges.

The list of states that say they will not participate in the healthcare exchanges grew this week when Virginia and Kansas added their names.

Texas, South Dakota, South Carolina, Alaska and Florida confirmed to Reuters on Friday that they will not participate in exchanges. Louisiana had also opposed the plan before the election, but officials there did not respond to inquiries about their plans under Obama’s second term.

But Maine, which advised the administration last April that it did not intend to pursue a state-based exchange, said on Friday that further guidance from Sebelius’ department could make a difference.

“It’s too soon to tell,” said Adrienne Bennett, spokeswoman for Republican Governor Paul LePage.

“We’re willing to look at the information and move forward. But we can’t move forward if we don’t have information from the Obama administration. So we’re in a holding pattern,” she said.

Several Republican advocacy groups are expected to push against the implementation of Obama’s healthcare law. Americans for Prosperity, a conservative non-profit in part funded by billionaire Koch brothers, on Friday urged U.S. governors to reject the state-based exchange options, calling them “flawed” and “bloated bureaucracies” that put states’ budgets at risk.

(Writing by David Morgan; Editing by Michele Gershberg, Eric Walsh, Claudia Parsons and David Gregorio)

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