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Queensland mining magnate Clive Palmer has indicated there will be a High Court challenge against the carbon tax because he has advice the legislation is unconstitutional.

The legislation has passed both houses of Parliament and is due to come into effect in the middle of the year.

The Coalition has promised to repeal the legislation if it wins the next election.

Mr Palmer, who is a financial backer of the Coalition, first threatened to challenge the legislation last year and now says he is going to act on it.

"Our advice is that the carbon tax in its current form is unconstitutional, and that's recognised in the legislation itself when it says if it's found to be unconstitutional," he told the ABC's 7.30.

"Now, I think the constitution of Australia's much more important than having a number of lawyers or Parliament trying to slip around it.

"The constitution sets out how it should be changed, how the states should vote - the majority of Australians have a democratic right to vote."

When asked on precisely what grounds the tax is unconstitutional, Mr Palmer said: "I can only go on the advice that I'm given, and so we'll be looking forward to the challenge."

Mr Palmer says the legal action will be brought on by the companies he owns.

"The companies I own - who are large corporations - have got the rights to go to the High Court, that's what it's set up to do," he said.

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Palmer taking carbon tax to High Court

BLACKPOOL, England, March 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Almost 100 posts at local councils across the UK are being filled by limited company contractors and many of the high earners are using tax avoidance schemes, according to the BBC.

Findings by a Freedom of Information request by BBC Radio 4's File on 4 programme show that several councils employ staff through limited companies but Margaret Hodge, the chair of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, said the situation was a "tax avoidance scheme which is totally wrong."

According to the discovery, dozens of high earners are allowed to make their own tax arrangements rather than be paid through the PAYE system but the Local Government Association said that councils adhere to the strict HM Revenue & Customs tax legislation rules.

The FOI request showed that Hackney Council in London had the highest number with 39 of its permanent staff being paid through external companies; whereas Hammersmith and Fulham Council in the capital had 11 posts filled in a similar way. Moreover, Craven in North Yorkshire had eight staff paid in this way and St Edmundsbury in Suffolk and Ashfield in Nottinghamshire had five.

Mrs Hodge said that people who set up a scheme to avoid paying tax is "income forgone to the public purse" and issues such as these would be pursued. She added that she fears HMRC lack the expertise to stay ahead of clever private sector operators who set up complex tax avoidance schemes.

Sir Merrick Cockell, chairman of Local Government Association, said that organisations sometimes have to meet short-term staffing needs through interim contracts because it provides flexibility and reduces potential costs.

Recently the Freelancer and Contractor Services Association warned MPs to rein in the rhetoric against personal service companies and limited company workers because it fears that genuine self-employed contractors could be stigmatised and wrongly perceived as 'tax dodgers'.

An expert contractor accountant like Nixon Williams can help freelancers pay the proper taxes by working out the finances on your behalf. They can help contractors maintain all the books legally and accurately.

Media Contact Details Company Name: Nixon Williams Town: Blackpool Country: UK +44(0)1253-362000 info@nixonwilliams.com

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MP Warns That Council High Earners are Using Tax Avoidance Schemes

EDITORIAL

Must shoulder some of the blame ... Wayne Swan. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

NONE of the main parties has come off looking good in the standoff over the proposed cut to the company tax rate linked to the minerals resource rent tax.

The new tax, which in its latest guise will fund a reduction in the company tax rate from 30 per cent to 29 per cent, has plagued Labor since it was recommended by the Henry tax review two years ago. Henry suggested the special tax on miners could fund a 5 percentage point reduction in the company tax rate, in large part to address the challenges faced by companies on wrong side of the mining boom.

That the cut has shrunk to just 1 percentage point is a reflection of Labor's mishandling of the reform. Even before the Labor government wilted under pressure from the mining industry, it was not proposing to deliver Henry's full recommended cut.

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The muddle is remembered for contributing to the downfall of Kevin Rudd as prime minister but blame also lies with the Treasurer, Wayne Swan. Had he done a better job of consulting the industry, and promoting the original tax to the electorate, businesses may today be looking forward to a much bigger tax break. This ineptitude cost Labor, and the country, a much more significant reform.

But the Coalition is also on shaky ground. Its opposition to the mining tax means it stands in the way of a tax reduction to business - one of its core constituencies - at a time when sentiment is fragile and many companies in key economic sectors are under great stress. Businesses outside mining could be forgiven for questioning why the party believes that staying on side with the miners is more important than tax relief for the vast majority of firms.

Now the Greens have intervened to put the entire measure in jeopardy just days before the tax was expected to become law. They want the

1 percentage point company tax cut restricted to businesses with a turnover of less than $2 million. The Greens leader, Bob Brown, says it ''doesn't make sense'' to give big business a tax cut but does not explain why. There is a strong argument that this tax cut should be available to companies of all sizes. The Greens proposal also undermines one of the fundamental aims of business tax reform - to make the entire corporate tax system more internationally competitive. Business is being let down by all sides of politics in this row.

Excerpt from:
Tax reform by a thousand cuts

By Gregory Viscusi - Thu Mar 15 11:14:56 GMT 2012

Nicolas Sarkozy, president of France.

Nicolas Sarkozy, president of France. Photographer: Jock Fistick/Bloomberg

Frances presidential campaign has turned into a race to tax the most.

On Feb. 27, Socialist frontrunner Francois Hollande said he plans a 75 percent levy on income over 1 million euros ($1.31 million) on top of his pledge to raise the wealth tax and eliminate exemptions for overtime work. President Nicolas Sarkozy followed with a proposed tax on the worldwide revenue of large French companies and this week a levy on fiscal exiles. Both candidates want to impose a fee on financial transactions.

Unlike in the U.S., where higher levies are a vote-killer, in France, such increases win support in the polls, more so after the European debt crisis cooled economic growth, raised jobless claims to a 12-year high and the unemployment rate to about 10 percent. An Ifop poll this month showed that 61 percent of the French are in favor of Hollandes millionaire tax.

A U.S. election campaign is all about who promises to cut taxes while here its about who will tax more, Maurice Levy, chief executive officer of advertising company Publicis SA, said March 13 at a business conference in Paris.

Frances tax revenue as a proportion of gross domestic product is one the highest in the world at 43 percent in 2010, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. That compares with 36.3 percent in Germany, 25 percent in the U.S. and the OECD average of 34 percent.

The eagerness of French candidates to promise new taxes, and the positive response from voters stem at least in part from the sentiment that tax cuts at the start of Sarkozys five-year term allowed the wealthy to pay less than their fair share during the economic crisis.

Both candidates are trying to capitalize on the issue: Sarkozy by trying to dispel the perception that hes the president of the rich, and Hollande by trying to show that he can be the president of redistribution. Antonio Barroso, an analyst at Eurasia Group, said in an interview.

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New Day New Tax as Sarkozy Battles Hollande in French Campaign

A shortage of English-language school places in Hong Kong is hurting expatriate families and damaging the city's reputation as a regional business hub, parents and lobby groups say.

The situation is driving some companies to look at alternatives such as Singapore, Bangkok and Shanghai, they say.

International chambers of commerce have united to pressure the semi-autonomous Chinese's territory to wake up to the problem, but say their pleas for action have fallen on deaf ears.

"There is no space and no flexibility for families like ours. It's a big sacrifice on my family's part ... to come to Hong Kong," said a recently arrived American businessman and father-of-two, requesting anonymity.

"All we as parents are concerned with coming to Hong Kong is will any school accept our children? A lot of firms have decided to go to other cities in Asia where school accessibility is easier. Hong Kong is losing out."

Hong Kong had the dubious distinction of making assignment services firm Brookfield Global Relocation's Top 20 list of most challenging destinations for the first time last year, with schooling cited as the major problem.

"This continues to be the number one burning issue that (foreign companies) are facing in growing their businesses out here," in Hong Kong, said Janet de Silva, the American Chamber of Commerce's (AmCham) education affairs group chairwoman.

Immigration department figures show the number of US and UK passport holders issued with Hong Kong employment visas increased 42.48 percent from 2009 to 2011, as more people are drawn to the city as a gateway to the Chinese market.

But the former British colony's English-language schools have struggled to keep up with the demand due to land shortages, red tape and funding problems.

School waiting lists typically contain up to 100 names, and only two state-funded English-language schools had any spare spaces at the start of this year, according to school data and relocation specialists.

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Hong Kong's school place shortage deters expats