Tax
Summary
To tax (from the Latin taxo; "I estimate", which in turn is from tangō; "I touch") is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law.Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities. Taxes consist of direct tax or indirect tax, and may be paid in money or as its labour equivalent (often but not always unpaid labour). A tax may be defined as a "pecuniary burden laid upon individuals or property owners to support the government […] a payment exacted by legislative authority." A tax "is not a voluntary payment or donation, but an enforced contribution, exacted pursuant to legislative authority" and is "any contribution imposed by government […] whether under the name of toll, tribute, tallage, gabel, impost, duty, custom, excise, subsidy, aid, supply, or other name."The legal definition and the economic definition of taxes differ in that economists do not consider many transfers to governments to be taxes.
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STV makes pre-tax profit of £9.1m
STV made pre-tax profits of £9. 1m in 2012, its first full-year profit since 2010, following the end of its legal wrangle with ITV and a "broadly flat" airtime revenue performance.
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Virgin Media delays bonuses to avoid top tax rate
Virgin Media, the pay-television business being bought by US giant Liberty Global, has invited staff to delay their bonuses so that they can avoid the top rate of tax.
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Ad Biz Readies Fight Against State Ad Taxes
New taxes on advertising haven't yet been proposed in Congress, yet, but that hasn't stopped financially-strapped states from considering them. Governors John Kasich (R-Ohio) and Mark Dayton (D-Minn. ) have both proposed new taxes on advertising and other business services as part of their 2014 budgets.
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Bloomberg unearths an Italian bank scandal
Back in mid-January, Bloomberg's Elisa Martinuzzi and Nicholas Dunbar reported that Deutsche Bank helped Italy's third-largest bank, Monte Paschi, cover up a 367 million euro loss at the end of 2008 with a shady derivative deal. That swap helped the bank look better than it really was just before taxpayers bailed it out--echoes of Goldman Sachs's deal to hide.
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The state tax shift
In today's The New York Times, Richard Stevenson takes note of an important trend in state capitols the country: Republican governors and state legislatures are pushing to sharply alter state revenue sources, slashing or even eliminating personal and corporate income taxes while boosting sales tax revenues through higher rates or the elimination of exemptions.
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Amazon takes a tax hit, finally
Reuters reports that Amazon's fourth quarter results may take a hit from new laws that force it to collect sales taxes in California, Texas, and Pennsylvania. Best Buy says its online sales outperformed in those three states compared to the rest of the country, while analysts say Amazon's sales look like they underperformed in those states.
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Amazon fighting $234 million tax deficiency in Tax Court : filing
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Amazon. com Inc. is challenging a $234 million U. S. tax bill, contesting Internal Revenue Service tax calculations for cash transfers between the parent company and its European subsidiaries, according to a court filing.
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Audit Notes: NYT on AIG, subsidizing fraud, free logic
The New York Times scoops that AIG, recipient of a $180 billion bailout from taxpayers, will meet today to hear its former CEO Hank Greenberg argue why it should join his lawsuit against the federal government for not bailing it out generously enough. Greenberg, unindicted co-conspirator in the giant fraud that led to his ouster in 2005, is suing.
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Paying tax is a 'question of judgement', says WPP chief Sir Martin Sorrell
Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of global advertising group WPP, said the amount of corporation tax companies pay is "a question of judgement".
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Do super PACS have a right to lie?
In a bitter campaign for the Florida State Senate this fall, incumbent Maria Sachs was pummeled with negative TV ads produced by the state Republican Party. One ad suggested that Sachs, a Democrat, had fraudulently billed taxpayers for limousine rides she had never taken. A second ad acknowledged that Sachs had used the car services, but attacked her.
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