Tax

Tax U-turn is UK chancellor’s least bad option

25 Mar 2025

Rachel Reeves needs $19 bln to comfortably meet her own fiscal rules. But cutting spending and welfare may backfire and leave her weak. Raising income tax would be a breach of pre-election promise but can be justified by the Ukraine crisis and offers a more permanent fix.

BYD’s shareholders are too cautious by half

14 Mar 2025

They snapped up the $146 bln Chinese electric-car maker’s new stock offering after it unveiled an affordable smart-driving system. Yet they value the group lower than peers, even though the autos business sports better growth and margins. BYD deserves to trade at a big premium.

US tax weaponisation launches messy European fight

5 Feb 2025

President Trump has begun probes into “discriminatory” tax measures, like France’s 3% Big Tech duty. His retaliation may include hiking levies for foreign firms and wealthy investors in the US. But since Europe is unlikely to cave in on this issue, the crossfire will be intense.

India’s tax cuts grasp at a fleeting growth fix

3 Feb 2025

By hiking the income-tax exemption threshold, Narendra Modi’s government hopes the middle class will go out and spend. But that leaves the state relying on 1% of the working age population to help pay its bills. It throws the urgency to tackle stagnant wages into sharp relief.

Tobacco giant’s value push is running out of puff

10 Jan 2025

Shares of India’s $65 bln ITC barely moved on its hotels spinoff. Now its core cigarette business faces the prospect of higher taxes, and consumers are lighting up again in the black market. For boss Sanjiv Puri, challenges will keep mounting as growth in the economy slows.

Donald Trump will meet his match in bond markets

18 Dec 2024

The president-elect’s bullying and bluster may steamroll any political resistance to tax cuts and tariff hikes. Like many world leaders before him, though, he’s about to feel the punch that debt buyers pack. They’ll beat back an inflationary agenda that imperils US finances.

UK is now risky lab rat for rich tax-perk reform

4 Dec 2024

Thousands of Britain-based families look to have moved to the UAE. One key driver is the abolition of ‘non-dom’ rules that in 2022 shielded 37,800 residents’ offshore cash from tax. The UK may be right that the reform will raise revenue – but it’s on the hook if it doesn’t.

Big Tech’s Irish grip is immune to election shocks

27 Nov 2024

Sinn Féin wants Ireland to ditch its centre-right coalition. If their hard-left policies win, it would give the likes of Google a fright. But with a cadre of multinationals providing 60% of corporate tax receipts, policy will continue to be weighted towards them regardless.

Market’s Trump trades at risk from bond vigilantes

20 Nov 2024

US consumer prices have risen 21% since 2020, helping President-elect Donald Trump win the White House. His policies, though, may stoke inflation. Stocks, bitcoin and the dollar like a hot economy. But a rising deficit could upset debt investors and hit the current market stars.

Ireland’s $25 bln tax bounty reveals OECD flaws

19 Nov 2024

Dublin expects a record budget surplus in 2024 thanks to a cash deluge from tech giants. In this episode of The Big View podcast, Pascal Saint-Amans, the architect of a landmark 2021 tax treaty, explains how the US’s failure to ratify the deal allows havens to rake in billions.

Companies bear brunt of Britain’s fiscal trade-off

30 Oct 2024

New finance minister Rachel Reeves raised 40 bln pounds through higher levies, mostly on employers, to fund public services like health. She also changed debt rules to borrow more. It’s a bet that fiscal rectitude will help revive growth. But the ailing UK has few other options.

Voters and markets put left-wing leaders in a bind

29 Oct 2024

The world must reduce debt by 3.8% of GDP by 2029 – four times more than planned – the IMF says. That’s bad news for social democratic governments, which lose elections when they are fiscally tough. But if they keep running chunky budget deficits, investors will make them pay.

Debt rule tweak can help UK avoid moron premium

25 Oct 2024

Two years ago, former Prime Minister Liz Truss’ unfunded tax cuts sent 10-year gilt yields surging to 4.5%. Now, new Chancellor Rachel Reeves can avoid a similar debacle with small changes to the fiscal rules in next week’s Budget. With yields at 4.2%, there is no room for error.

UK budget is a tightrope walk over a black hole

24 Oct 2024

Finance Minister Rachel Reeves is due to set out tax and spending pledges while hemmed in by campaign promises and economic reality - even if debt rules are tweaked. In this Viewsroom podcast, Breakingviews columnists discuss the tall task of selling it to the public and markets.

Trump stumbles onto a useful globalist policy

22 Oct 2024

The protectionist presidential candidate floated an exemption for 4.4 mln US citizens living abroad from paying some $12 bln of income tax at home. It would streamline an unwieldy patchwork system for expatriates. And if structured properly, it might even help prevent evasion.

UK’s bad tax on share trading looks hard to kill

18 Oct 2024

Britain’s stamp duty on equity transactions hampers and distorts investment. Yet abolishing it probably won’t revive the fortunes of the country’s shrinking stock market. Chancellor Rachel Reeves has little cash to spare, and cheaper ways to boost domestic share ownership.

Measured UK tax hike can avoid dealmakers’ Brexit

16 Oct 2024

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has to raise money in her Oct. 30 Budget and may up capital gains tax from 28% to 35%. That would require 2,000 buyout barons to pay $120,000 extra on their funds’ profits. Such a small hit would probably stave off a threatened private equity exodus.

UK tax threat revives gambling stocks’ M&A saga

14 Oct 2024

Entain and Evoke shares fell over 10% on reports of a 3 bln pound tax hike on the sector. After a troubled few years in which it was a target for MGM, debt-laden Entain had looked on the mend. If Britain turns the fiscal screw, smaller players may need to bulk up.

France heads toward aimless short-term austerity

11 Oct 2024

PM Michel Barnier’s deficit-reduction plan mostly relies on 30 billion euros of tax hikes next year. That will hit growth just as corporate investment and consumer demand are flat. Long-term spending cuts would be a better solution. But this weak government cannot provide them.

UK government can still trip over lower fiscal bar

11 Oct 2024

Chancellor Rachel Reeves needs an extra 31 bln pounds in public investment by 2029 to boost the country’s anaemic growth. Easing the spending rules is a start. But without a clear plan and return targets, the Labour administration will fall into a debt trap of its own making.