Don’t believe the spin, corporate taxes are rising

Don’t be surprised reading the headline of this Bloomberg article.

Of course, corporate taxes were going to rise.

The British government made sure of it when they increased the corporate tax rate from 19% to 25% in April 2023.

In this article from February 2023, I wrote that “Corporate taxes were as good as they were going to get”.

In addition, I cited that the FTSE 100 is “full”.

it was trading at 7,915 at the time of writing that note compared to today’s price of 7,513

Furthermore, in other notes, I alluded to a pragmatic case when the “I” in company’s EBIT rises and when the expected increases in the “T” occurs, we will see earnings (net profits) come under pressure.

It also contains a link to very good paper concluding that much of the attributed earnings for S&P 500 companies over the previous 18 years, came with the assistance of low (subsidised) interest rates and corporate taxes.

And people wonder why investors and corporations are always looking for low taxation domiciles.

December 5, 2023

by Rob Zdravevski

rob@karriasset.com.au

Bitcoin – Not A Passing Fad

I love how crypto coins are making governments nervous.

Personally I’m not a user of it, but I can understand its allure to the nonconformists, to those who like to be considered as “early adopters” and those who just don’t want to be traced.

Bitcoin proponents are looking for ways to have their virtual currency legitimised (in terms of acceptance) but at the same time, government will want to regulate it based around protecting the consumer but the real reason will be so that they can tax it.

Ya Gotta Know How To Tax ‘Em

Government knows how to tax petrol (gasoline), cigarettes, ownership of land, income, sales of goods and capital gains realised on the sale of assets.

This is why I think Electric Vehicles (EV’s) don’t stand a chance of real success. Government support of EV’s is a mere sideshow to appease the “Green Lobby” and until government learns how to tax the electricity trickle from the powerpoint in your garage, then EV’s won’t become too popular. Interestingly,  New Jersey, Colorado, Texas, Arizona, and Virginia have all prohibited Tesla from selling cars in their states, mainly because that their direct internet selling model pisses off the incumbent dealership model ( see an older post from 2013, http://wp.me/p1d84Y-mr ) but it probably didn’t help when a couple Tesla’s were bought using Bitcoin.

Battle Is Just Beginning

U.S. tax authorities have classified Bitcoin as property, which the “crypto industry” doesn’t like.

The Aust. Taxation Office is now trying to figure out taxation guidelines surrounding Bitcoin and other crypto currencies.

An Aussie tax partner has said that under Aust. GST laws, Bitcoin wouldn’t be classified as money as it is not backed by a government. That must be annoying for the government.

Nervousness exists because Bitcoin and other crypto currencies have become a money supply which is not controlled by the state in its currently acceptable fiat format.

It cuts out the middle man!