A watertight rule of changing the tax system is to ensure there are no losers — or at least not half a million vocal ones. Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Louis XIV’s finance minister, compared tax collection to plucking a goose to obtain most feathers...
Read moreSerco’s badge of honour unpicked by risk of government stitch-ups
When running the gauntlet of investors and protesters at an annual meeting — after three profit warnings and a government contract scandal — not many bosses would turn up in a jacket emblazoned with their company’s name. Fewer still would have...
Read moreInvestment: The 21st century governance vacuum
“Shareholders are stupid and impertinent — stupid because they give their money to somebody else without any effective control over what this person is doing with it, and impertinent because they ask for a dividend as a reward for their...
Read moreWill new HMRC reporting rules mean I have pay my accountant more?
I understand that HMRC is to introduce a new quarterly reporting requirement for personal income tax assessment. I receive a small state pension of about £1,500 a year and rent of around £13,000 a year (before expenses) from letting a flat. Will...
Read moreEuropean stocks soft as Wall St returns to the fray
Tuesday 08:00 GMT Overview European stocks are easing back after a mixed Asia session as Wall Street looks to re-enter the fray at record levels. The dollar is stronger and Treasury yields are moving up as expectations build of tighter US...
Read moreWho wrote the chat-up lines in Kraft’s clumsy courtship?
Would you go on a date with someone from Lazard? Fear not, this is not some new kind of new FT reader service (mind you . . . actually, no). But it is a question raised by events at the weekend — which appear to suggest that certain investment...
Read morePearson slips as investors show pre-results nerves
Pre-results jitters put Pearson among Monday’s sharpest fallers. Ahead of its full-year figures due Friday, Pearson faded 3.9 per cent to 642.5p. Since a profit warning in late January, the textbook publisher had rallied as much as 17 per cent...
Read moreUK government resists calls to expand pensions regulator’s powers
The UK government has resisted calls to force companies to obtain clearance from the pensions regulator before doing corporate deals, as it unveiled proposals to sustain the £1.5tn final salary pensions sector. In a green paper published on...
Read moreEuropean stocks start week on the front foot
Monday 08:35 GMT Overview Stock markets In Europe are starting the week on the front foot after a generally positive Asia session following Wall Street’s climb to another record. Trading is a tad subdued, however, with mild action in forex...
Read moreStocks start week on the front foot
Stock markets in Europe are starting the week on the front foot after a generally positive Asia session following Wall Street’s climb to another record. Trading is a tad subdued, however, with mild action in forex delivering a slightly softer...
Read moreMillions of expats caught in Brexit no man’s land
When Greenland left the European Community in the 1980s, the legacy rights of expatriate citizens were guaranteed with a legal act of extraordinary simplicity: the operative article runs to just 85 words. The fate of 4m EU and British expatriates...
Read moreEmployers could be allowed flexibility on final salary pensions
UK businesses in financial difficulty would be allowed to water down the pension promises made to millions of workers, under proposals to be unveiled by the government on Monday. A pensions green paper, to be put out for consultation, will float...
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