We have always been sceptical about Tax Justice Network, which at the most, has seen LVT as part of a “balance of taxes”, which amongst other things ignores the fact that the other taxes are competing for the same revenue  stream as LVT itself. But this article is more positive than most that has come from that direction. If the prevention of tax avoidance and tax evasion are the aims,...

I see that Tax Research is doing a great job in promoting free and open discussion. I received a reply in response to something I had sent to Richard Murphy, reinforcing a point he had made on VAT fraud. Back came this response. Just like this

Some further thoughts on my post from yesterday on Richard Murphy’s new comments policy.

Some of our readers will have been trying to convince Richard Murphy of Tax Research that LVT is an essential component of any serious package of reforms that will address the current epidemic of tax avoidance. He is now fed up with people try to tell him this and is imposing a censorship policy. “Having reflected on this one obvious way to cut out some work is to get rid of all the comments...

Before the post war Beveridge settlement, relatively few people paid income tax. This changed on the notion that it was giving everyone a stake in the country. Organisations such as Tax Justice continue to present this view, which holds that universal taxation is an essential component of democracy. Apart from anything else it ignores the reality of tax incidence – that from the economic perspective...

TJN gets funding from the Rowntree Foundation. Look where Rowntree’s money comes from! The funny thing is that TJN and its chief brain Richard Murphy have been having a go at some of the firms on the list. If they put forward a proposal that seriously addressed the problem they claimed to be concerned about, they could wake up next morning to find their supply of funds had been cut off. They...

Where is income? Multinationals can make their profits pop-up in the country where they will pay the least amount of tax. The dodge is known as “transfer pricing”. The hound of the tax dodgers, Richard Murphy, has just made a presentation on country-by-country reporting at the Tax Justice Network’s transfer pricing conference in Helsinki. Murphy argues for country-by-country reporting....

Guess what was not discussed. Here Even the valiant knight of the anti-tax-avoidance campaign, Richard Murphy, breathed not one word about how the tax havens could be cut out of the loop altogether.. And he knows, too!

Some well-known commentators, including Richard Murphy of Tax Research, firmly deny the reality of Ricardo’s Law of Rent. This makes it difficult to engage in coherent discussion. Ricardo’s Law is not contested territory within economics. It is just ignored. However, you can verify it for yourself by considering a simple model – busking on the London Underground.

The BBC ran a programme on taxation in is series The Moral Maze last week. How frustrating it was to listen to. The only coherent comments came from Richard Murphy, who did as well as anyone could given the absolute need not to even hint at LVT. Had any of the speakers done so, or were known as an advocate of LVT, they would immediately be put on the list of people who could not be allowed to appear...