| Gift ban restored, but ruling leaves much unsettled
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Heavenly Tax Havens
In 1980, there were just three flat-tax jurisdictions. Today, prompted by Estonia's 1994 reform, there are 25 governments with simple and fair flat-tax regimes. All of these reforms have yielded big benefits -- particularly for the nations that have been the most aggressive tax cutters, notably Ireland, Estonia and Slovakia. But tax rates are just part of the equation. In an ideal tax system, income also should be taxed just one time. This means no death tax, no wealth tax and no double taxation of interest, dividends or capital gains. Politicians often are tempted to impose extra layers of tax on saving and investment, both because they think such policies will give them more money to spend and because voters sometimes are sympathetic to class-warfare campaigns to "tax the rich." Yet the academic literature increasingly shows that excess taxation of capital income causes significant economic damage, largely because people have less incentive to set aside some of today's income to finance tomorrow's growth.
J.D. Power and Associates Reports: While Small Businesses are ...
Power and Associates Reports: While Small Businesses are Particularly Profitable, Banks Struggle to Satisfy These Customers Commerce Bancorp Ranks Highest in Small Business Owner Satisfaction WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif., Nov. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Banks struggle to satisfy small business customers, as these customers tend to be more difficult to please compared with the average retail banking customer, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2007 Small Business Banking Study(SM) released today. Now in its second year, the study measures small business customer satisfaction with the overall banking experience based on seven factors. In order of importance, they are: transaction methods (32%); relationship with representative (19%); products (15%); fees (10%); statements (9%); convenience (9%); and problem resolution (7%).
Sampson's self-destruction leaves fans asking "Why?"
Considering how successful he had been up to the moment he resigned in disgrace last week, it's hard not to think he had at least 10 more good years of major Division I coaching in him if he chose. So go ahead, do the math. Sampson would have stroked a $500,000 check to make it all go away in a heartbeat. Cheating in sports, large and small, is nothing new. However today's incredible fortunes available for those who win, or hit an extra 20 home runs per summer, make getting that "cheaters edge" even more tempting. Perhaps the cheater, once he's stooped to the level of cutting corners, starts to rationalize in his own mind the acts he's committing. Perhaps then, and only then, does he lose sight of just how much he endangered his fortune, reputation and legacy.
ORU timeline
Parties in the ORU lawsuit choose former Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice Daniel Boudreau as their mediator. Tulsa County District Judge Rebecca Nightengale had granted an earlier request by ORU and the administrators to require mediation.
Dec. 18: ORU announces that another evangelist, Jesse Duplantis, has resigned from the board of regents.
Dec. 19: The Tulsa World reports that Green has proposed a “shared governance" structure for ORU, in which faculty, staff and others would participate with regents in important decisions involving the university. ORU declines comment on Green's proposal.
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Fort Lauderdale man faces uphill battle with a mountain of debt
Big student loans and a heap of credit-card debt, but a low-paying job. It's a mismatch so many people face when they're trying to live on starting salaries. For Jamell Vanterpool, the mismatch is hurting him and limiting his future prospects.
"I can't keep up with the bills," he wrote, seeking a South Florida Sun-Sentinel Money Makeover.
There are two big questions he faces: Can he live on his salary? The answer to that one is no. And what can he do about it? That answer depends on what Vanterpool does next.
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Employers driven to cut commutes with tax credit offer
Teleworking, or working from home, is taking off in Georgia. A key factor in its increasing popularity is Georgia's forward thinking telework tax credit for employers. Last month, the Georgia Department of Revenue announced that 135 employers have been approved to take tax credits in 2008 for creating and expanding telework programs. These credits —- currently capped at $2 million a year —- will provide a tremendous return on the state's investment in the form of increased employee productivity and morale, fewer cars on our traffic-choked roads and less pollutants in our skies. Last week, Rep. Chuck Martin (R-Alpharetta) introduced Georgia House Bill 1244, which would extend the telework tax credit for two more years and raise the cap on the credit to $2.5 million per year.
Norwich Union Life fined for data control 'weaknesses'
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined Norwich Union Life 1.26m for failing to manage customer data adequately, resulting in financial crimes such as identity theft being committed against its customers. Aviva PLC, of which Norwich Union Life is a subsidiary, issued a statement on Monday apologising for the fraud. It said, "due to some weaknesses in internal controls, 74 policies were fraudulently surrendered and 558 other customers' policies were placed at risk" over the course of 2006. According to the FSA, weaknesses in Norwich Union Life's systems and controls allowed fraudsters to use publicly available information, including names and dates of birth, to impersonate customers and obtain sensitive customer details from its call centres. Also, in some cases, they were able to ask for confidential customer records such as addresses and bank account details to be altered.
Posturing and peddling myths, these prison enthusiasts are blind to ...
Ten years later, anyone with a shred of liberal fibre in their body has learned better the hard way. After 37 crime, justice and police bills, the prison population has risen by 20,500 to 81,500, and now the government is proudly planning - yes, deliberately - to imprison another 10,500. Here is Jack Straw proclaiming three new prefabricated titan superprisons. Titans! My, they sound tough. These new PFI prisons will cost another £2.7bn by 2014. Consider the disastrous message here. This proclaims the government doesn't expect any of its social programmes to have any good impact on crime. On the contrary, things will get worse. The 10,500 extra young men imprisoned in 2014 will be Labour's children, arrived in school in 1997. Young offenders will have been born under Labour and yet more not fewer of them will "need" to be locked away than under the Tories.
Aptera's Super-MPG Electric Typ-1 e: Exclusive Video Test Drive
It's nothing new and good luck to the person who thinks they're buying something with nascar style safety characteristics... In a just world, we'd add a laugh track to their eulogy for this. Ditto with this big hype about "And this area in the front rolls gently out from under you in a crash, and blah, blah.. " That's been a standard to a long time too.. Under IDEAL ( 500. RE: Aptera's Super-MPG Electric Typ-1 e: Exclusive Video Test Drive Website: http://www.somberi.com It definitely appeals to me. Hope they sell it here in GA soon. I would want to buy one and use it for all my local driving. I would still have an SUV for all those out of town trips. 499. RE: Aptera's Super-MPG Electric Typ-1 e: Exclusive Video Test Drive A couple problems with this vehicle of which some have been stated already.
SBC DSL--Promises Made, Promises Kept?
Whatever happened to keeping the promises both implied and real that you make to a customer? In nearly every industry you look nowadays, it seems customer service is getting more miserable. Why is the onus now on the customer to make sure you're getting exactly what you pay for? Consider my recent experience upgrading my DSL service: SBC is trying to lure people away from cable's broadband, and to keep its own DSL customers, with hot pricing deals of $15 for basic service and $25 for expanded. I recently discovered that since I signed up for DSL years ago, I was getting speeds worse in some cases that what'd you get for basic service. A quick call to SBC was meant to change that. I signed up for DSL pro, which offers 1.5 to 3 Mbps downstream and 384 to 584 Kbps upstream.
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