June 15, 2012 12:47 pm
Debt crisis: Rich Greeks in London face tax investigation - Daily Telegraph
In a tone of some amazement, one newspaper said these details „even included the tax paid on the purchase“, referring to stamp duty.
Mr Zanias has also instructed tax inspectors to examine the accounts of Greece’s 1,500 biggest tax debtors, “medium-level debtors” and 23,500 taxpayers in Greece who receive interest on deposits abroad.
Bankers have said that Greeks have withdrawn money at record rates in the past week, amid fears that it may be forced to leave the euro. Anecdotal reporting suggests about a 20 percent of those withdrawals have been remitted overseas.
In the event of “serious evidence of discrepancy between declared taxable income and accumulated assets”, Mr Zanias said tax officials were instructed to contact their EU counterparts to aid collection, according to reports in the Greek press.
The finance ministry has granted late tax payers until June 29 to reach a settlement with tax authorities.
Reducing the estimated €15bn (£13.2bn) that Greeks avoid paying in tax every year is a key condition tied to country’s two bailouts, worth a combined €240 billion.
But collection rates have not increased, while continued recession has reduced revenues and threatened the government's ability to meet its salary and pension bills. The government and bureaucracy has been virtually paralysed for six weeks since a May 6 election, which will be re-run on Sunday after an inconclusive result.
Mr Zanias has ordered senior tax officials to be ready to report on the progress of the renewed collection effort on July 5 to whoever the new finance minister is.
He is however a technocratic caretaker who will step aside soon. Officials in Brussels and Berlin will want results from his successor. Previous pledges to crack down on tax evasion have not been met.
Throwing money at banks won't solve economic crisis, Ed Balls says - The Guardian
Ed Balls has warned that an emergency multibillion-pound package to inject lending into the British economy still fails to address the lack of economic confidence and demand. The shadow chancellor said the Bank of England's thinking still seemed to be driven by Montagu Norman, the governor who led it through the depression of the 1930s.
He said the measures announced on Thursday night at the Mansion House in London by the chancellor, George Osborne, and the bank's governor, Mervyn King, should have been implemented two years ago and would not work if businesses were not investing.
Osborne warned that the "debt storm" on the continent had left the UK and the rest of Europe facing their most serious economic crisis outside wartime. In a joint proposal between the Bank of England and the Treasury, banks will receive cut-price funds, provided they pass on the benefits to their business customers.
This new "funding for lending" scheme could provide an £80bn boost to loans to the private sector within weeks and alleviate growing fears of a second slump since the start of the financial crisis in 2007.
In a second scheme, within the next few days the bank will begin pumping a minimum of £5bn a month into City institutions to improve their liquidity.
Balls told Sky News: "Simply giving the banks billions of pounds doesn't translate into loans to business. If business is not investing and creating jobs and if our economy is not growing, that's the fundamental problem, and I've said consistently for two years that you can't do this simply by throwing money at the banks.
"You've got to accept that the fiscal plans of the chancellor haven't worked, they've backfired, they've taken us back into recession."
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Balls compared the government's fiscal policy to the 1930s depression era: "It failed then and it's failing now".
He said the announcements were a clear sign that the bank was worried. He did not dismiss the injection of cash for lending in principle, but argued that fiscal, as opposed to monetary policy was critical to recovery, pointing out that, apart from Italy, the UK was the only country in the G20 in recession.
The government has described the plans as an attempt to stretch its "plan A" to the limit. There has been concern from some banks that the plan does not change the dynamic as they will be expected to take the risk on the loans.
The treasury minister Mark Hoban told Today that the government's fiscal tightening had had no impact on growth. He said taxpayers' money would not be at risk as a result of the £80bn bank credit scheme.
Conservative MP Andrew Tyrie, chairman of the Commons treasury select committee, welcomed the plans: "The measures look as if they will encourage lending to businesses by ensuring liquidity is more easily available to banks."
Balls said: "The Bank of England's new funding for lending scheme is a significant admission that the government's existing policies have failed. Businesses will be desperately hoping it is more successful than George Osborne's Project Merlin and credit-easing schemes which have actually seen net lending to businesses fall."
He said Osborne's speech was dangerously complacent. "He is sticking with policies that have choked off the recovery, pushed up unemployment and are leading to £150bn of extra borrowing."
Balls also attacked Osborne over his remarks about a possible Greek exit from the eurozone.
"I was at the Mansion House last night and there was a frisson around the room when our chancellor started openly talking about whether Greece should leave the eurozone. I do not think that is a very wise or sensible thing to do," he told BBC Breakfast.
"I think Greece has got to sort out its issues – and that is a matter for Greece. What I am really worried about in the eurozone is that countries like Spain or Italy – which are huge, to which we as a country are very exposed – they have not sorted out their problems.
"Unless we get a global growth plan going, including in the eurozone, you can't turn this round. I am afraid that our government seems to be urging the wrong actions in Europe as it takes the wrong actions here in Britain too."
The shadow chancellor pointed out that Osborne had "snuck out another U-turn" in his speech, in particular to the objectives of the new financial policy committee at the bank.
"Labour and business organisations like the CBI have been calling for the new financial policy committee to have supporting economic growth as one of its key objectives. The chancellor voted against our amendment on this but in the face of an imminent defeat in the House of Lords he has now backed down."
Money & Cost in China (3) - People's Daily Online
Bank Account
Can foreigners open a bank account in China? If yes, how?
Foreigners can open bank accounts in most banks in China. The process is fairly straight forward. A passport is required at whichever bank you choose. In addition, different banks may require different amounts of deposits when opening an account, which can be 100 CNY to 300 CNY. When you successfully open an account, a savings passbook is given, as well as a bank card. You can use the bank card to withdraw money from the ATMs.
There are many kinds of deposit, which one should I choose?
Generally speaking, there are two common ways for deposit: Savings Deposit and Time Deposit.
Savings Deposit: There are no limits on the amount and time of your deposit as well as withdrawal. A bank book with a bank card is issued after opening Saving Deposit. You can deposit or withdraw money in the Bank outlets or the ATM.
Time Deposit: There is a settled time and you can only withdraw your money on the date of maturity. The interest rate of Time Deposit is higher than Savings Deposit. There is no bank card for this kind of deposit.
If you are going to live in China for several years and the money you deposit is not in urgent need, you can choose Time Deposit, otherwise choose Savings Deposit.
when you open a new account, a certain amount of money will be needed to deposit in your account. It varies according to the bank and deposit you choose.
What are the major banks in China?
Here we list the service number and official website of some major banks. If you have any problem, you can call for help!
Bank of China: http://www.boc.cn/en/index.html(Service number: 95566)
Agriculture Bank of China: http://www.abchina.com/en/hq/index.jsp/lang=en/index.html (Service number: 95599)
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China:http://www.icbc.com.cn/icbc/sy/
(Service number: 95588)
Usually, in the big branches of these banks, English service is available.
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