Investment
Low UK corporation tax has failed to boost investment – report – Reuters
LONDON, Sept 20 (Reuters) – Britain’s low headline rate of corporation tax has failed to boost business investment, which lags behind that of all its major peers, according to a report on Tuesday which comes as the government prepares to reverse a planned rise.
Britain’s 19% corporation tax rate – the lowest in the Group of Seven (G7) large, rich nations – had been due to rise to 25% in 2023 under plans announced last year by former finance minister Rishi Sunak.
However, opposing the rise formed a major part of Liz Truss’s successful campaign to defeat Sunak in the contest to succeed Boris Johnson as Conservative Party leader and Britain’s prime minister.
New finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng is expected to confirm this in an emergency fiscal statement on Friday, where he gives more details about Truss’s plan to support the economy in the face of surging energy bills.
Truss said during her campaign that keeping corporation tax low was vital to attract investment, but a report from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) showed past reductions in the tax rate had not led to more investment.
Britain cut its headline rate of corporation tax rate from 30% in 2007 to 19% in 2017, but in 2020 private-sector investment was the lowest in the G7 at 9.8% of gross domestic product. Across 31 mostly wealthy nations in the OECD, Britain had the fourth-lowest business investment in 2020.
“Slashing corporation tax is just a continuation of a failed race to the bottom that hasn’t delivered for the UK economy,” said George Dibb, head of the Centre for Economic Justice at the IPPR, which describes itself as a progressive think tank.
Headline corporation tax rates do not always give a clear sense of the overall business tax burden in a country, and some countries with high rates offer widespread exemptions.
Before he resigned as finance minister last month, Sunak had been working on measures to reshape business taxation to promote investment.
Low business investment is one of the main reasons economists give for poor productivity and very slow growth in living standards since the late 2000s.
Weak demand after the global financial crisis, followed by years of uncertainty over the consequences of Brexit, are among the reasons economists give for Britain’s poor investment performance, alongside difficulties measuring investment in some services industries Britain specialises in.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Investment
Tesla shares soar more than 14% as Trump win is seen boosting Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company
NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Tesla soared Wednesday as investors bet that the electric vehicle maker and its CEO Elon Musk will benefit from Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
Tesla stands to make significant gains under a Trump administration with the threat of diminished subsidies for alternative energy and electric vehicles doing the most harm to smaller competitors. Trump’s plans for extensive tariffs on Chinese imports make it less likely that Chinese EVs will be sold in bulk in the U.S. anytime soon.
“Tesla has the scale and scope that is unmatched,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, in a note to investors. “This dynamic could give Musk and Tesla a clear competitive advantage in a non-EV subsidy environment, coupled by likely higher China tariffs that would continue to push away cheaper Chinese EV players.”
Tesla shares jumped 14.8% Wednesday while shares of rival electric vehicle makers tumbled. Nio, based in Shanghai, fell 5.3%. Shares of electric truck maker Rivian dropped 8.3% and Lucid Group fell 5.3%.
Tesla dominates sales of electric vehicles in the U.S, with 48.9% in market share through the middle of 2024, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Subsidies for clean energy are part of the Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022. It included tax credits for manufacturing, along with tax credits for consumers of electric vehicles.
Musk was one of Trump’s biggest donors, spending at least $119 million mobilizing Trump’s supporters to back the Republican nominee. He also pledged to give away $1 million a day to voters signing a petition for his political action committee.
In some ways, it has been a rocky year for Tesla, with sales and profit declining through the first half of the year. Profit did rise 17.3% in the third quarter.
The U.S. opened an investigation into the company’s “Full Self-Driving” system after reports of crashes in low-visibility conditions, including one that killed a pedestrian. The investigation covers roughly 2.4 million Teslas from the 2016 through 2024 model years.
And investors sent company shares tumbling last month after Tesla unveiled its long-awaited robotaxi at a Hollywood studio Thursday night, seeing not much progress at Tesla on autonomous vehicles while other companies have been making notable progress.
Tesla began selling the software, which is called “Full Self-Driving,” nine years ago. But there are doubts about its reliability.
The stock is now showing a 16.1% gain for the year after rising the past two days.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Investment
S&P/TSX composite up more than 100 points, U.S. stock markets mixed
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 100 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in base metal and utility stocks, while U.S. stock markets were mixed.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 103.40 points at 24,542.48.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 192.31 points at 42,932.73. The S&P 500 index was up 7.14 points at 5,822.40, while the Nasdaq composite was down 9.03 points at 18,306.56.
The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.44 cents US on Tuesday.
The November crude oil contract was down 71 cents at US$69.87 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down eight cents at US$2.42 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$7.20 at US$2,686.10 an ounce and the December copper contract was up a penny at US$4.35 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Economy
S&P/TSX up more than 200 points, U.S. markets also higher
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 200 points in late-morning trading, while U.S. stock markets were also headed higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 205.86 points at 24,508.12.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 336.62 points at 42,790.74. The S&P 500 index was up 34.19 points at 5,814.24, while the Nasdaq composite was up 60.27 points at 18.342.32.
The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.71 cents US on Thursday.
The November crude oil contract was down 15 cents at US$75.70 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down two cents at US$2.65 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was down US$29.60 at US$2,668.90 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents at US$4.47 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 11, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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