To the Financial Times: Sir, Sebastian Mallaby’s spirited defence of capitalism (“Shortsighted complaints about short-term capitalism”, August 6) highlights one of the main difficulties facing the global economy: how to recapture the dynamism of markets without being at their mercy. The issue of under-regulation is perhaps best seen in the financial markets, where, contrary to …
Continue reading ‘Vested interests are on trial, not capitalism’ »
A new federal rule will require public companies to list their chief executives’ total annual compensation as a ratio to their workers’ median pay, after the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted the rule, required by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The agency received more than 280,000 public comments in support of …
Continue reading ‘Good news about executive pay in the US’ »
To The Times Contrary to the impression given by the Prime Minister and Chancellor, the vast majority of elderly people who now live in “ordinary houses” valued at more than £1m will owe that wealth less to mortgage payments from their “hard-earned” after-tax income, than to the relentless inflation in house prices over the past …
Continue reading ‘Inheritance Tax: house prices on a small island’ »
Among the most eye-catching measures of the British government’s recent budget is an inheritance tax (IHT) giveaway. IHT is currently levied at 40% on assets above £325,000 for a single person, or £650,000 for a married couple. But the addition of a new “family home allowance”, worth £175,000 per person, means that couples may soon …
I am not in the habit of lobbying politicians, but have done so once in England and once in the United Sttates. The issue in Washington was the proposed gutting of Inheritance Tax. I happen to strongly support the Inheritance Tax, and at the time it was a hot button issue in Washington D.C. under …
