The International Monetary Fund has released a new report on the Australian economy, saying that the new mining tax system should be expanded and the national Goods and Service tax rate should be raised, along with changes to personal and corporate income taxes. On October 28th the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released Australia: 2010 Article IV Consultation, an annual economic assessment of the country, prepared through a series of bilateral meetings with the IMF and the Australian government. Overall, the report praised Australia’s ... Read More

A new study has been published, ranking the tax environments for business across all US states. It was shown that New York state currently stands as the worst state in the country in regards to taxation, while South Dakota was ranked as the best. The US Tax Foundation has released its latest annual State Business Tax Climate Index (SBTCI), which ranks the effect of states’ tax systems, based on personal income taxes, corporate income taxes, property taxes, sales taxes and unemployment insurance taxes. ... Read More

The 2010 edition of the international Corruption Perception Index has been released, ranking New Zealand, Denmark and Singapore as the least corrupt countries in the world. On October 27th Transparency International (TI) published the latest edition of its annual Corruption Perception Index (CPI). The yearly publication aims to rank nations based on the perceived effects of corruption on their business and public sectors. The information is based on aggregate information on the topic from national business surveys and research conducted by special interest ... Read More

The German Government has bowed to industry pressure and decided to ease the tax burden faced by energy intensive and high-emissions companies, instead opting to hike taxes on tobacco products. On October 24th Germany’s government coalition agreed to revise its planned taxation measures on fuels and energy, easing the tax burdens faced by the energy industry. To offset the budgetary shortfalls, the move will be paired with an tax rate increase on cigarettes and tobacco products. Michael Fuchs, aleader in the Germany’s ruling ... Read More

Having come out of one of the most turbulent economic periods in recent years, governments worldwide have begun to reevaluate their tax policies, raising average indirect tax levels by 0.2 percent in 2010, and dropping corporate tax rates by 0.45 percent in the same time. In the wake of the financial crisis, and the subsequent budget deficits and economic imbalances, governments worldwide are increasingly turning their attention towards reviewing their taxation policies to maximize growth and tax revenues. Over the course of the ... Read More

The Canadian tax authority’s latest investigation into undeclared offshore bank accounts has already resulted in 19 individuals coming forward with details of their unreported bank holding at the Swiss division of HSBC. As we reported earlier, on September 30th 2010 the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) announced that they had received banking and personal information on 1800 Canadians with potentially undeclared accounts at the HSBC bank in Switzerland. The CRA has already initiated investigations into the information, hoping to uncover evidence of tax evasion ... Read More

The global decline in top personal tax rates looks like it has come to an end, as governments worldwide look at taxing high earners in an effort to battle their continuing budget deficits, raising the average rate by 0.3 percent in 2010. For the last seven years top personal income tax rates have experienced a steady decline throughout the world. However, throughout the 2010 year the trend seems to have been reversed, with many countries opting to either maintain their tax rates or ... Read More