FINANCE
EU ministers push for tax
Europe’s finance ministers yesterday made another effort to achieve a breakthrough on a disputed financial transactions tax, as Germany unveiled a plan to bring on board a skeptical Britain. Ministers entering the second of a two-day meeting here expressed cautious support for a proposal issued by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble to introduce a tax only on trade in company shares before broadening it out. Acknowledging that resistance from several countries had delayed the tax, proposed by the European Commission in September last year, that aims to make the financial sector pay for the crisis, Schaeuble proposed an “intermediate step.”
REGULATIONS
US has highest corporate tax
The US will hold the dubious distinction starting today of having the developed world’s highest corporate tax rate after Japan’s drops to 38.01 percent, setting the stage for much political posturing, but probably little tax reform. Japan and the US have been tied for the top combined, statutory corporate tax rate, with levies of 39.5 percent and 39.2 percent respectively. These rates include central government, regional and local taxes. Japan’s reduction, prompted by years of pressure from Japanese politicians hoping to spur economic growth, will give that country the world’s second-highest rate. This has triggered complaints from US politicians and business groups. The average corporate tax rate this year for the 34 developed countries is 25.4 percent, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
RESOURCES
Sino-Forest bankrupt
Chinese timberland company Sino-Forest Corp (嘉漢林業), which is being investigated for fraud, said on Friday it is filing for bankruptcy protection, putting itself up for sale and filing a lawsuit against the research firm that accused the company of exaggerating its timber holdings. Sino-Forest said it will implement a restructuring plan if the company doesn’t receive a suitable takeover offer. The request to the Ontario Superior Court is the equivalent of a US Chapter 11 filing. Sino-Forest was once Canada’s most valuable publicly traded forestry business, but shares plunged last year after short-seller Muddy Waters Research alleged that the company exaggerated its assets. Securities regulators in Canada suspended trading in the shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The company is under investigation by Canada’s national police force. Sino-Forest’s shareholders in Canada and the US have also sued, alleging fraud at the company.
UNITED STATES
Consumer confidence up
Consumer spending increased by the most in seven months in February as households shook off a rise in gasoline prices, leading economists to raise forecasts for first-quarter growth. Even with gasoline around US$1.05 per liter, Americans were more optimistic about the economy’s prospects this month than at any other time over the past year, drawing solace from a firming labor market. The Commerce Department said on Friday that consumer spending rose 0.8 percent in February as demand for long-lasting goods, like automobiles, rose sharply. It also said spending in January was double the previously reported 0.2 percent gain. Separately, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan’s final reading for the overall consumer sentiment index last month rose to 76.2, the highest level since February last year, from 75.3 in February.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last