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Mar 21 2012

More than 300 staff at the BBC avoid paying income tax, an MP has revealed.

Tory MP David Mowat, who represents Warrington South, said he discovered 320 "non-talent based" employees earning more than 50,000 avoided income tax.

Mr Mowat said it was "not acceptable", adding it was the BBC's Newsnight programme which had sparked the row about senior civil servants avoiding tax when it revealed head of the Student Loans Company Ed Lester had been paid via a company.

He told the Commons: "Tax avoidance matters are at the heart of this thing about us all being in this together.

"I sent a Freedom of Information request to the BBC to ask them how many employees they had who were not having tax deducted at source.

"The answer is that they have 320 non-talent based (staff), so this is administration employees, earning more than 50,000 a year but (for whom) PAYE and National Insurance is not deducted at source.

"I would ask my own frontbench, who are conducting a review across the whole of Government in terms of making sure this isn't happening but which explicitly excludes the BBC, to reconsider that."

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UK & World News: 300 BBC staff 'avoid income tax'

More than 300 staff at the BBC avoid paying income tax, an MP has revealed.

Tory MP David Mowat, who represents Warrington South, said he discovered 320 "non-talent based" employees earning more than 50,000 avoided income tax.

Mr Mowat said it was "not acceptable", adding it was the BBC's Newsnight programme which had sparked the row about senior civil servants avoiding tax when it revealed head of the Student Loans Company Ed Lester had been paid via a company.

He told the Commons: "Tax avoidance matters are at the heart of this thing about us all being in this together.

"I sent a Freedom of Information request to the BBC to ask them how many employees they had who were not having tax deducted at source.

"The answer is that they have 320 non-talent based (staff), so this is administration employees, earning more than 50,000 a year but (for whom) PAYE and National Insurance is not deducted at source.

"I would ask my own frontbench, who are conducting a review across the whole of Government in terms of making sure this isn't happening but which explicitly excludes the BBC, to reconsider that."

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300 BBC staff 'avoid income tax'

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Newspaper publishers in Missouri could have to pay more to buy paper, ink and other supplies under a measure endorsed Wednesday by a House panel.

On a 7-5 vote, the House Tax Reform Committee backed a proposal to eliminate sales tax exemptions on newspaper equipment in order to help fund state medical subsidies for people who are blind. The measure now goes to the full House.

The House is debating a budget this week that would eliminate a $30 million program that provides medical care to about 2,800 blind people and instead set aside $6 million for a slimmed-down aid program. Some House members want to use the money saved from those program cuts to reduce cuts to the state's public colleges and universities.

A financial estimate included with the legislation approved Wednesday projects that bill could generate up to $4.2 million of additional money for state aid to the blind.

House Budget Committee Chairman Ryan Silvey, who sponsored the measure, said newspapers should give up their tax exemptions because some editorial boards have called on lawmakers to eliminate tax breaks as a way of balancing the budget.

"The fact that they receive this corporate welfare while advocating for the end of it for others is a bit hypocritical," said Silvey, R-Kansas City.

Silvey also said he does not think eliminating the tax exemptions would interfere with a newspaper's right to press freedom.

"To say your medium is so unique that it needs a tax subsidy or it's infringement on First Amendment rights, I think is just illogical," he said. "It's not their right to have a sustainable business model."

To calculate how much tax revenue the legislation could generate for aid to the blind, legislative analysts estimated the total annual revenue of the newspaper industry and estimated how much of the revenue is spent on newspaper supplies. The fiscal estimate projects that revenue for newspapers sold in the state totals between about $120 million $208 million each year. The estimate cites an annual report filed by the New York Times Co. for 2011 that said costs for "raw materials" and "other costs" are equal to 17 percent to 50 percent of the newspaper's revenue.

Missouri lawmakers codified the sales tax exemption for newspaper supplies in 1998, two years after the state Supreme Court ruled that computers used for newspaper pagination could not be taxed because pagination is part of the manufacturing a newspaper.

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Mo. House panel backs end to newspaper tax breaks

By Mizan Rahman Dhaka Bangladesh is taking steps so that Bangladeshi migrant workers can send up to $500 to the country without any fee, Expatriate Welfare Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain said yesterday. Migration of workers and the flow of remittance are important for the countrys economy. Remittances contribute around 13% to the gross domestic product (GDP), he said at a meeting of officials of Bangladesh Labour Wings abroad. He asked the officials to work sincerely to increase the inflow of remittances and resolve the problems of migrant workers. Mentioning that around 8mn Bangladeshis are now working in different foreign countries, he also asked the officials to be more proactive to explore labour market abroad for more manpower export. The minister said the cost of migration from Bangladesh is much higher than that of other countries. The migration cost shouldnt be the higher than two-three months salary of a worker, he pointed out. Hossain directed the officials to carefully examine the migration costs and the salary of workers before giving approval to their visas. He also asked them to ensure the security of women migrant workers and take steps so that they can communicate with their family members over phone any time without any hassle. Youll have to ensure that the recruiting agencies register their (women workers) names for insurance. Terming the recent killing of Saudi Embassy official Khalaf Al Ali tragic, the minister said it will not affect Bangladeshs labour market abroad. The government is investigating the case and stern action will be taken after the investigation, he added.

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Govt incentive for Bangladeshi expats

By Belinda Cao - Wed Mar 21 20:51:08 GMT 2012

Chinese stocks listed in the U.S. climbed for the first time in four days, led by Internet companies, as China moves to bolster credit growth and ward off a worsening economic slowdown.

The Bloomberg China-US Equity Index (CH55BN) of the most-traded Chinese shares in the U.S. added 1.2 percent to 104.66 yesterday in New York, rebounding from an eight-day low. NetEase.com Inc. (NTES), the nations second largest online games operator, surged to a record after renewing its license for World of WarCraft in China. Online book seller E-Commerce China Dangdang Inc. (DANG) jumped the most in a week, while Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd. traded at the highest premium over its Hong Kong stock in four days.

The Peoples Bank of China announced yesterday it will expand a cut to reserve-requirement ratios to more branches of Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. from March 25. A total 23 billion yuan ($3.6 billion) has been freed up for loans by the moves, the central bank said. Data from home prices to retail sales signal that growth in the worlds largest exporter is slowing. Gross domestic product in the last three months of 2011 rose the least in ten quarters amid Europes debt crisis.

China will continue to be in an easing mode because of the slowdown they are having, and they are concerned about a hard landing, Dave Lutz, head of exchange-traded fund trading and strategy at Baltimore-based Stifel Nicolaus & Co., said by phone yesterday. The PBOC is nimble enough to force liquidity all the way through the system to help them mitigate a slowdown. There is an excellent chance for the rally in Chinese stocks so far this year to continue.

Chinas central bank has lowered the amount that must be kept in reserves by lenders twice since December and has kept interest rates on hold since July. The reserve ratio will be cut by 2 percentage points for 379 branches of Agricultural Bank, the nations third-largest lender, expanding a trial that previously lowered requirements for 563 branches in eight provinces, the PBOC said yesterday.

The iShares FTSE China 25 Index Fund, the biggest Chinese exchange-traded fund in the U.S., advanced 0.4 percent to $37.42, snapping a three-day slump. The Standard & Poors 500 Index (SPX) slid for a second day, falling 0.2 percent to 1,402.89.

American depositary deposits of NetEase climbed 3.2 percent to $58.11, the highest price since they started trading in June 2000, data compiled by Bloomberg show. NetEases ADRs have increased 30 percent this year.

Beijing-based NetEase and Blizzard Entertainment Inc., owned by Santa Monica, California-based Activision Blizzard Entertainment Inc., renewed a license for NetEase to operate the World of WarCraft online multiplayer game in mainland China, the two companies said in a joint statement on March 20.

The license renewal for the most popular three-dimensional online game in China removes a key overhang on the stock, Richard Ji, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Morgan Stanley said in a research note yesterday.

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Stocks Rebound in N.Y. on Bank Credit Easing: China Overnight