UBS:
The strongest political opponent of a parliamentary approval of the 2009 Swiss-US agreement on release of UBS accountholders' names has now announced that it will support the deal. The Swiss People's Party, a far-right group, changed its position to indicate it would go along with parliamentary approval on May 21, according to BNA RealTime, May 25, 2010. That means that it is now very likely that the agreement will be approved and the 4500 names will be processed.
EU bank tax:
The European Commission plans to tax all large cross-border financial institutions to create a resolution fund for future financial crises. Will this help the House prevail in its version of the financial regulatory reform?
Extenders Bill:
Business groups continue to object to the pay-for provisions in the extenders bill that may come up for a vote within the next week. These include a carried interest provision (phasing in ordinary rates at 50% in the first year and increasing to 75% of the profits allocation to the service partner--a compromise that seems foolhardy since bricklayers and teachers pay 100% ordinary rates) and several of the international provisions pushed by the Obama Administration. The Emergency Committee for American Trade said on May 25 that the bill would harm American competitiveness. It seems that anything that means that corporations pay more taxes is treating as harming competitiveness. What they mean is that they won't have as much profit after taxes, which of course is true but does not necessarily mean that these businesses won't be competitive. That depends on many other factors. When we subsidize businesses' offshore profits, the country loses not only the revenues but also the business, as the subsidy incentivizes further development offshore.
Recent Comments