Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin I have been having silly arguments with Fair Tax enthusiasts. The Fair Tax Act of 2023 would be a tremendous simplification of federal taxation. It does not, however, reduce 70,000 pages to 131 and it does not entirely eliminate the Internal Revenue Code. Also it does not abolish the IRS. It renames parts of it and has $10 billion or so, currently spent by the IRS to be spent by numerous state revenue agencies instead. Over my forty year career I have not found state employees to be easier to deal with than federal employees, so I don't see what we would be gaining there. And while much simpler than the current system, there is still some complexity. That is what I would like to tell you about, because some of that complexity is worrisome. All section references are to the Internal Revenue Code of 2023 as specified by the Fair Tax Act of 2023. The Variable Rate Discussions of the sales tax proposed in the … [Read more...] about Fair Tax Act Of 2023 Has Rate That Varies
Dividend distribution tax on equity mutual funds
Why Hedge Funds May Still Have More to Contribute to a Stock Sell-Off
The S&P 500 is down about 3.7% year-to-date as of market open on Dec. 17, 2018. Market analysts have begun to very vocally sound the alarm about the possibility of a bear market — but if you listen close enough, you'll also hear whispers about a looming recession. There are certainly ways that investors can protect themselves against potential losses in the event of a market downturn. Still, market capitulation , or the phenomenon in which investors give up earlier gains when they sell off their positions out of panic, remains a real possibility. To make matters worse, it could be some of the biggest players in the financial world — hedge funds — who end up leading the trend. Where Do Hedge Funds Piece Into a Market Sell-Off? Hedge funds could contribute to a prolonged stock sell-off into the future. According to a recent report by Bloomberg , Sundial Capital Research found that hedge funds as a group bought heavily into American equities, and moreover that many of … [Read more...] about Why Hedge Funds May Still Have More to Contribute to a Stock Sell-Off
What Makes Economies Strong?
Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Over the last year a number of you have pointed out the odd typo or two in my Sunday note. For example, one eagle eyed reader in Brazil registered that I had written ‘South China Sean’ rather than ‘South China Sea’, which is a Freudian slip of sorts. The real reason the quality of the note may have slipped is that this time last year my ‘editor’ Nicholas Benachi, passed away. In addition to being a good friend, he made sure that the logic and quality of the note were up to scratch. One of his favourite greetings and ‘sign-offs’ was ‘Strength and Honour’, which may have been inspired by his love of bushido and his family’s ties to Greece, not to mention a sweeping appreciation of history. It is a phrase that comes to mind more and more often in a world where the moral pendulum is swinging wildly, and I often find myself using it as a maxim to scrutinise people, places and projects. Here are a few examples. Strength … [Read more...] about What Makes Economies Strong?
Clean Energy | Betting on hydrogen is the right way to go ahead
Hydrogen is the new aspiration in India’s energy landscape that has the potential to wipe out the country’s annual fossil-fuel import bill of a staggering $160 billion, and place Indian entrepreneurship at the forefront of the green industrial revolution that is sweeping the planet. Hydrogen is increasingly being seen as the ideal green fuel that can replace polluting fossil fuels in the world where a strong consensus against fossil fuels has emerged as climate change has caused severe droughts, floods and extreme temperatures. However, hydrogen as a source of genuinely clean energy is still work in progress. The problem is that globally, almost the entire production of hydrogen is based on the use of fossil fuels, which dents its green credentials, even though its use to power fuel-cell based motors is totally emission free. The solution is to use clean electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, but the cost of doing this is currently prohibitive. Hydrogen produced … [Read more...] about Clean Energy | Betting on hydrogen is the right way to go ahead
ChatGPT hits 100 million users in January: Report
The financial news portal named by ChatGPT provides financial news, analysis, and information on stocks, mutual funds, and other financial instruments. (Image Courtesy: NURPHOTO VIA GETTY IMAGES) OpenAI's generative bot, ChatGPT, reached 100 million users in January, according to reports from Reuters. What makes this interesting is that the bot was only opened to the public in November last year, but it is already on track to acquire 100 million active users in just two months. Within the first month of availability, ChatGPT accumulated 57 million active users, and by January, it is now being visited by almost 13 million users daily. Also Read | MC Explains: Everything you need to know about Midjourney AI This makes it one of the fastest growing online platforms. In comparison, it took TikTok nine months to acquire 100 million users, and as Engadget points out, it took Meta's Instagram two-and-a-half years to reach that number. Read More Since … [Read more...] about ChatGPT hits 100 million users in January: Report
FM Nirmala Sitharaman Interview: Moving to old pension scheme is unwise
Under NPS, employees have to make regular investments. Amid some states moving to old pension scheme, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman cautioned against the move, saying that states might be paying the current generation of pensioners by loading it onto the future generations. The minister was speaking to Rahul Joshi, Group Editor, Network18 Group in an exclusive interview. Recently, the Punjab government said it was considering reverting to the old pension scheme, or OPS, for its employees. If the proposal goes through, Punjab will be the third state to have reverted to the OPS after Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. Even Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis recently said that the state was “not negative” about OPS. “We should look at a reasonable balance and what we are leaving for generations to come. Yes, you need to borrow for the economy to run, but unless we have a complete understanding of the fiscal health of the state, for not just today but future … [Read more...] about FM Nirmala Sitharaman Interview: Moving to old pension scheme is unwise
Budget 2023: All you need to know about EPF withdrawal, leave encashment
The current law provides for taxation of leave encashment received by employees while in service. Maintaining continuity and stability in taxation, simplifying and rationalizing various provisions to reduce the compliance burden, promoting an entrepreneurial spirit and providing tax relief to citizens were some of the objectives of Budget 2023. Budget announcements inter alia included amendments to provide relief to salaried taxpayers withdrawing their provident fund balance or receiving leave encashment from their employers. TDS on withdrawal of Provident Fund balance The law provides for tax to be deducted at source on payment of accumulated PF balance due to an employee at the time of withdrawal if the period of contribution is less than 5 years. Also read | Tax exemption removed in insurance policies with premium over Rs 5 lakh Read More TDS is required to be deducted at the rate of 10 percent on the accumulated balance due to an employee if the … [Read more...] about Budget 2023: All you need to know about EPF withdrawal, leave encashment
Reflections on Marcos’ 1st 6 months
ILLUSTRATION BY ALBERT RODRIGUEZ It’s been six months since President Marcos was sworn into office. If we liken Mr. Marcos’ six-year term to the well-loved game of basketball, we are now in the second half of the first of six games. The first half of Game 1 was filled with many challenges. A Pulse Asia survey last September 2022 showed that the top concerns of Filipinos are controlling inflation, increasing the pay of workers and creating more jobs. Unfortunately, these continue to burden Filipinos into halftime of Game 1. Before the first “game” ends on June 30, 2023, we’d like to share some of the administration’s notable wins during its first six months and some reflections on how to sustain the fight against these challenges. Wins First among Mr. Marcos’ wins is the appointment of credible and experienced economic managers. This means that we have a strong team to overcome the pandemic’s lingering effects on the economy. Second, several executive actions were made … [Read more...] about Reflections on Marcos’ 1st 6 months
A quick guide to the Economic Survey 2022-23
The Economic Survey 2022-23 was tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday. The document, prepared by a team of economists led by chief economic adviser V Anantha Nageswaran, analyses developments in the economy in the past year and makes projections for the following year. Here are some of the key takeaways. Growth - The Indian economy is expected to expand 7 percent in real terms in 2022-23, following the 8.7 percent growth in 2021-22. The survey notes that the economy had staged a full and broad-based recovery in 2021-22 and was positioned to ascend to the pre-pandemic growth path. Inflation - India’s retail inflation rate peaked at 7.8 percent in April 2022, above the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) upper tolerance limit of 6 percent. The overshoot of inflation above the upper end of the target range in India was, however, one of the lowest in the world. Read More Fiscal developments - The government’s finances showed a … [Read more...] about A quick guide to the Economic Survey 2022-23
Lies, Damn Lies, Payroll Data
Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The big spike in the Payroll data (+517K) was out of kilter with what has been occurring in the rest of the economy and in other labor market data. Financial markets always shoot first and ask questions later, so, on Friday, equity markets fell and bond yields rose on the fear that the Fed would now have a great excuse to raise interest rates even further than what was already priced in. The far-right hand sides of the above charts show the violent up spikes in the yields of the 10-Yr. and 2-Yr. T-Notes on Friday (February 3). As reported by various reliable sources with deep research capabilities, most or all of the +517K job gains wasn’t due to new job creation, but to benchmark revisions, seasonal adjustments, and population controls , all keywords for what we can only describe as statistical magic . Morgan Stanley MS concluded that without the population adjustments, the Household Survey (which was up an even … [Read more...] about Lies, Damn Lies, Payroll Data