Google agrees 945-million-euro tax settlement with France

PARIS - US internet giant Google has agreed a settlement totaling 945 million euros ($1.0 billion) to end a tax dispute in France under an agreement announced in court on Thursday.

The company will pay a 500-million-euro fine for tax evasion, as well as a further 465 million euros to settle claims with French tax authorities.

In a statement, Google confirmed the settlement and hailed the fact it had put an end to fiscal differences that it had had with France for numerous years.

The settlement follows similar out-of-court agreements reached in Italy and Britain by Google in recent years, though the French agreement is much larger than the previous ones.

Google said it now wanted to see a coordinated reform for a clear international taxation framework.

French Justice Minister Nicole Galoubet and Budget Minister Gerald Darmanin welcomed the "definitive settling" of all the contentious issues, adding in a statement that it was the result of two years of intense work by the French authorities.

"This outcome is good news for the public finances and fiscal fairness in France," their statement said.

Belloubet said the settlement showed that the French authorities have the tools to ensure an equitable tax system.

"It is a historic settlement both for our public finances and because it marks the end of an era," Darmanin said. "By normalizing Google's situation in France, (the settlement) responds to our citizens' demands for fiscal fairness," he said.

G7 DEAL?

The settlement comes as France and its European allies seek to find common ground with the United States in a long-running dispute over the taxation of digital giants.

Google, like several other big American tech companies, has its European headquarters in Ireland, where the government has set the corporate tax rate at just 12.5 percent in a bid to attract big companies.

But leading EU states like France argue that this is allowing tech giants to avoid paying sufficient taxes on the huge profits and sales they accrue in big countries outside where the tech giants are headquartered.

The French parliament in July passed a law taxing digital giants on their French operations, drawing an angry response from US President Donald Trump and threats of retaliation.

The British government is now planning a similar move, at a time when it also hopes to build on its relationship with Washington as it exits the European Union.

But French President Emmanuel Macron said alongside Trump at the G7 summit in August that leaders had reached an agreement on the taxation of tech giants, though the precise details remain to be worked out.

Macron has said it will scrap its digital tax once a new international levy being discussed among the 134 OECD countries is in place, which Paris hopes will happen next year.

Pascal Saint-Amans, who is leading the negotiations as head of tax policy at the OECD, said after the G7 that progress is being made but several key issues still need to be hammered out.

The Google investigation in France was first opened by anti-fraud prosecutors in 2015 and was followed by searches at its Paris headquarters in 2016, an operation codenamed "Tulip" that mobilized a hundred police and experts.

In 2016, Google paid £130 million ($160,000) in a settlement with the British authorities and in 2017 agreed to pay 306 million euros to settle a tax dispute in Italy.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Fresh clashes in French 'yellow vest' fuel price protests

PARIS - Fresh clashes in the "yellow vest" fuel price protests across France led to more injuries on Sunday, adding to the more than 400 already reported by the government, as some demonstrators vowed to continue their action over the coming days.

Around 46,000 people took part across France in a second day of protests, police said, compared to Saturday when close to 300,000 people participated, although there were again clashes with police -- and sometimes motorists.

Police were searching for a driver who forced a road block at Saint-Quentin, northeast France, leaving one protester seriously injured.

And police used tear gas to break up a gathering of about a thousand protesters near the northern city of Caen, after acts of vandalism and the burning of wooden pallets.

The protesters, nicknamed "yellow vests" for the high-visibility jackets they wear, blocked roundabouts, major highways and thoroughfares on Saturday to express anger over increased taxes on fuel and their shrinking purchasing power under President Emmanuel Macron.

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on Sunday evening said the government would stay the course, but acknowledged the "suffering" expressed by the protests.

"A government that always changes its stance, zigzagging through difficulties... would not lead France in the right direction," he told France 2 television.

"We heard anger but also heard suffering, the lack of prospects, the idea that the authorities for a long time did not respond to the concerns and feeling of abandonment felt by part of the population," he said.

'IDIOTIC BEHAVIOR'

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner earlier reported that the first day and night of protests had left one person dead and more than 400 people hurt, 14 of them seriously.

French retail group Auchan reported violent incidents at around 20 shopping centers where it operates hypermarkets.

The injured, 409 in total, included 28 police, paramilitary police or firefighters.

Castaner told RTL radio that 288,000 people had taken part in Saturday's protests at 2,034 locations countrywide. About 3,500 stayed out overnight, he added.

Police questioned nearly 300 protesters, and took about half of them into custody.

"Last night was restive.... There were assaults, fights, stabbings," Castaner said.

"There were fights among 'yellow vest' protesters. There was a lot of alcohol at certain venues, which led to this idiotic behavior."

In the eastern Savoie region, authorities said a woman trying to get her daughter to a doctor panicked after protesters surrounded her car and banged on the roof.

She accelerated into the crowd and killed a 63-year-old woman.

The driver was on Sunday charged with manslaughter before being released on conditional bail, prosecutors said.

Budget Minister Gerald Darmanin said Sunday the government was aware of unhappiness over high fuel taxes, but said it had "a duty" to transform the French economy with the aim of making it less oil-dependent.

A poll published in the Journal de Dimanche weekly said that 62 percent of those questioned believed their purchasing power was more important than a fast transition towards renewable energy.

MORE TO COME?

In several spots across the country protesters vowed to carry on their action on Monday and beyond.

A spokesman for the movement in the western region of Morbihan said "tomorrow we will be joined by lorry drivers", while in the city of Le Mans, southwest of Paris, protesters said that farmers would help them block a major motorway, the A28 leading up to the Picardy coast.

"There are many young people among us because we can't make ends meet anymore," said Emilie, a 27-year old temporary sales manager in Cavaillon in the south of the country.

"We work like slaves and at some point enough is enough. We have no life, we're just surviving," she said.

Analysts say the movement has come to represent more widespread frustration against Macron, a former investment banker who has pushed through a series of reforms aimed at bolstering economic growth.

Another poll also published in the Journal du Dimanche indicated that Macron's popularity had dipped a further four points to 25 percent.

The survey was conducted November 9-17 with 1,957 respondents.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Jared Kushner 'likely' paid little or no income taxes for years - NYTimes

WASHINGTON - Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and a senior White House adviser, likely paid little or no federal income taxes between 2009 and 2016, the New York Times reported on Saturday, citing confidential financial documents.

The documents were created with Kushner's cooperation as part of a review of his finances by an institution that was considering lending him money, the Times reported. The Times said that Kushner's tax bills reflected the use of a tax benefit known as depreciation that lets real estate investors deduct part of the cost of their properties from their taxable income.

The Times report said that nothing in the documents reviewed "suggests Mr. Kushner or his company broke the law."

Peter Mirijanian, a spokesman for Kushner’s lawyer Abbe Lowell, told Reuters on Saturday that he would not respond to the newspaper's assumptions, which he said were "taken from incomplete documents obtained in violation of the law and standard business confidentiality agreements."

He added, "Always following the advice of numerous attorneys and accountants, Mr. Kushner properly filed and paid all taxes due under the law and regulations."

The records reviewed by The New York Times did not expressly state how much Kushner paid in taxes, but included estimates for how much he owed called “income taxes payable” — and how much Kushner paid in expectation of forecasted taxes known as “prepaid taxes." The paper said that for most of the years covered, both were listed as zero, but in 2013 Kushner reported income taxes payable of $1.1 million.

Kushner Cos, the family company for which Kushner previously served as chief executive, has been profitable in recent years, the Times said, citing the analysis. Kushner sold his interests in the company to a family trust last year.

The White House and Kushner Cos did not immediately comment Saturday.

The newspaper noted that the 2017 tax rewrite signed by Trump includes provisions that benefit real estate investors.

Mirijanian said that on tax reform efforts, Kushner "followed his approved ethics agreement and has avoided work that would pose any conflict of interest."

In December, a group of Democratic lawmakers wrote to Kushner, asking whether in his talks with foreign officials he had ever discussed financing for a deeply indebted property in midtown Manhattan, citing concern he was using his position for financial gain.

Kushner Cos said previously it had more than $2.5 billion in transactions 2017 and has 12 million square feet under development in New York and New Jersey.

Documents released by the White House in June showed Kushner held assets worth at least $181 million, the Associated Press reported. The disclosures also show that Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, received at least $82 million in outside income in 2017.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Europeans press for digital tax at G20 meeting

BUENOS AIRES - European finance leaders called for progress on global rules to tax the digital economy at a meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bankers in Argentina on Sunday, putting them at odds with US counterparts.

The final communique reaffirmed a commitment to address the impacts of the shift to a digital economy on the international tax system by 2020, without giving more details.

The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, proposed rules earlier this year to make digital companies pay more tax, with US tech giants such as Alphabet's Google, Facebook and Amazon set to foot a large chunk of any bill.

Some 200 companies would fall within the scope of the new tax, European officials said at the time, estimating additional annual revenues of about 5 billion euros ($6 billion).

Major digital companies had "to pay their fair share of tax, because basically what we are talking about here is fairness," European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici told reporters at the G20 meeting.

He said he was calling for a turnover tax to be adopted before the end of the year as an interim solution.

However, some EU members have voiced concerns their companies could be affected by such a tax and international partners may respond with retaliatory measures.

"One of the big challenges is that taxation of the digital economy is mostly of course a taxation of American companies - because they are the key players in the world - so the United States feel that this is an attack concerning their digital economy, which it isn't really," European Council representative to the G20 Hubert Fuchs said on the sidelines of the meeting.

The US delegation was not immediately available for comment. U. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement earlier this year that he "firmly opposes proposals by any country to single out digital companies," noting that those companies were key contributors to the US economy.

POT OF GOLD

Australia Treasurer Scott Morrison said the G20 discussions were useful because they established the root of the problem: that "no one knows" how to measure for tax purposes the value of the data users of social media services like Facebook create outside of the countries where those companies are based.

He said if those technical issues were not resolved, more countries would start taking "interim measures."

"We're not convinced at this point about the efficacy of those interim measures - which is basically a sales tax on digital advertising," Morrison said. "It is more important to focus on those technical issues rather than the pot-of-gold approach, which is how much revenue can be raised."

The European Commission wants a long-term, global solution based on a new method of calculating tax rates but has pushed in the meantime for the revenue tax to recoup revenues lost by EU states to large digital firms, officials said.

Implementing "fair taxation of digital giants" would also be a way of "proving that Europe is united and strong" at a time when the region's leaders feel pressured by the administration of US President Donald Trump, a senior European official said on the sidelines of the G20 meeting.

"We cannot accept that our SMEs (small and medium enterprises) have a level of taxation 40 points higher than the level of taxation of internet giants," said the official, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about the talks.

The EU's proposed levy on corporate turnover would be a major shift from existing rules, whereby companies are charged on their profits and pay no tax if they report losses.

"Taxation should be where the moneymaking is and if the digital economy is making the money all over the world it doesn't really make sense if they only will declare their income in the United States," said Fuchs, who is also Austria's state secretary for finance. 

source: news.abs-cbn.com

US taxpayers get one-day reprieve after computer glitch

WASHINGTON - The US Internal Revenue Service said it would give taxpayers an additional day to file their 2017 returns after computer problems prevented some people from filing or paying their taxes ahead of Tuesday's midnight deadline.

"Taxpayers do not need to do anything to receive this extra time," the IRS said in a statement announcing the extension.

The agency said its processing systems were now back online.

Earlier, the agency said several systems were hit with the computer glitch, including one that handles some returns filed electronically and another that accepts online tax payments using a bank account.

The IRS said it believed the problem was a hardware issue and "not other factors."

It was not clear how many taxpayers might were affected, but the agency said it received 5 million tax returns on the final day of filing season last year.

"This is the busiest tax day of the year, and the IRS apologizes for the inconvenience this system issue caused for taxpayers," acting IRS Commissioner David Kautter said in a statement.

The agency said taxpayers should continue to file their taxes as normal on Tuesday evening - whether electronically or on paper.

Taxpayers could also ask for six-month extensions, as President Donald Trump did. The White House said on Tuesday that Trump, because of the complexity of his tax returns, would file his by Oct. 15.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Bill Gates: Billionaires should pay 'significantly' more taxes

WASHINGTON - Bill Gates says he has paid more than $10 billion in taxes over a lifetime but billionaires like him should pay "significantly" more because they benefit more from the system.

The Microsoft co-founder, the world's second richest man after Amazon's Jeff Bezos, was critical of a recent US tax overhaul that slashed corporate taxes and lowered the top bracket for individual income.

"I've paid more taxes, over $10 billion, than anyone else, but the government should require the people in my position to pay significantly higher taxes," he said in an interview Sunday with CNN.

He said the tax overhaul passed in December favors the rich despite Republican claims it will help the middle and working classes.

"People who are wealthier tended to get dramatically more benefits than the middle class or those who are poor, and so it runs counter to the general trend you'd like to see, where the safety net is getting stronger and those at the top are paying higher taxes," he said.

With a sixth of the US population living in what he called "disappointing" conditions, he said US policymakers need to think about rising inequality and ask, "Why aren't we doing a better job for those people?"

source: news.abs-cbn.com

US officials hope tax plan will bring corporate profits home

WASHINGTON - The sweeping tax cuts adopted Wednesday by US lawmakers while reducing rates on corporations, also aim to encourage multinational businesses to repatriate huge earnings amassed abroad.

US corporations, notably in the tech and pharmaceutical sectors, have for years accumulated profits offshore to avoid the comparatively high US tax rates of 35 percent, although most companies in reality pay much less.

The stockpile of cash now stands at about $2.5 trillion, according to the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation.

In 2016, for example, Apple stashed more than $200 billion abroad, while Microsoft parked $100 billion, and Cisco, Oracle and General Electric all followed suit.

Some firms resorted to so-called corporate inversions, reverse mergers allowing them to be incorporated in low-tax countries, avoiding the US tax system altogether.

Last year, several inversion efforts, including the merger attempt by drug companies Pfizer and Allergan, drew the ire of American officials.

By dropping the top corporate rate to 21 percent from 35 percent and taxing only profits earned US territory, the reform represents an effort to make the United States more enticing to major corporations.

"Money frozen overseas and in parts of world and some of them don't even like us," President Donald Trump said Wednesday in remarks celebrating the tax bill's passage.

"And they had the money. Now they won't have the money long."

To help encourage earnings repatriation, the tax package includes a one-time, across-the-board tax break for companies that bring the cash back.

THE INCENTIVE REMAINS?

Businesses will have to make a one-time payment of eight percent or 15.5 percent, on repatriated foreign profits, depending on whether the assets are cash or investments. This could bring $220 billion to the Treasury, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.

But Eric Toder, co-director of the Tax Policy Center, this particular policy measure would reward overseas investment.

"We are taxing them less on their foreign profits than on their US profits if they invest in low-tax countries," he told AFP.

After the tax bill is enacted, foreign profits will be taxed at a minimum of 10.5 percent -- including amounts collected by local authorities -- a level well below the 21 percent US rate.

Toder said congressional scorekeepers were assuming the lower taxes would result in higher revenues, given the larger volume of repatriated profits.

But this still encourages companies to invest abroad, he said.

"They have an incentive to report and invest income in low tax countries."

Industrial companies, such as makers of semiconductors, an industry prone to off-shoring like many that trade in intellectual property, welcome the new rules.

"We would have preferred lower repatriation rates but overall it's a strong bill for the semiconductor industry," Joe Pasetti, a senior lobbyist at the Semiconductor Industry Association, told AFP.

WILL IT WORK?

The tax plan also aims to encourage companies to be active again on US soil, in particular those in IP-reliant industries, he explains.

US revenues derived from foreign sales of patented products will be processed for tax purposes as if they were earned by foreign subsidiaries, at a rate of 10.5 percent rather than the new corporate rate of 21 percent.

"It's really competitive, much more competitive than the current system," Pasetti said.

The US Chamber of Commerce believes the benefits will be shared widely following the disappearance of the "outdated" former tax system.

"Our tax system will now welcome capital within our borders for myriad uses such as job creation, wage growth, and investment," Caroline Harris, vice president for tax policy at the chamber, told AFP.

However, critics are skeptical the higher profits will be used for those purposes.

In 2004, under then-president George W. Bush, Congress approved a similar tax break to encourage the repatriation of profits, and companies brought back about $312 billion, subject to a 5.3 percent rate.

But studies showed these funds were in large part used for share buybacks rather than for investments.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Global stocks slip slightly on tech as full US tax plan vote looms

NEW YORK - Global stock markets edged lower on Tuesday, while US Treasury yields rose, as Republican legislation with steep cuts to corporate taxes cleared the House of Representatives and headed towards a final vote in the Senate.

US stocks hit successive highs ahead of the tax overhaul bill, but modest selling has crept into the market as most traders see the positive impact of the bill as already priced in.

"I really think it might be: buy the rumor, sell the news," said Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist with the Leuthold Group in Minneapolis. "Wall Street has had long enough to vet this thing."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 37.45 points, or 0.15 percent, to end at 24,754.75, the S&P 500 lost 8.69 points, or 0.32 percent, to 2,681.47 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 30.91 points, or 0.44 percent, to 6,963.85.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index lost 0.51 percent and MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe shed 0.30 percent.

The US House of Representatives approved the tax bill by a vote of 227-203. A Senate decision could come Tuesday night on what would be the biggest US tax overhaul in more than 30 years. However, the US Senate parliamentarian has ruled against three provision of the Republican tax bill, forcing the House of Representatives to hold a second vote on the legislation, Senator Bernie Sanders said.

President Donald Trump is expected to sign the bill into law by the end of the week if it is passed by the Senate.

The plan includes slashing the corporate tax rate to 21 percent from 35 percent, which analysts say would likely increase profits, buybacks and dividend payouts.

A slump in technology stocks, led by Apple Inc, also helped drag markets down in afternoon trading.

Apple shares fell more than 1 percent after broker Instinet downgraded the stock to "neutral" from "buy" on doubts about iPhone X sales.

US Treasury yields rose with the benchmark yield hitting a 7-week high as the tax bill pushed forward.

Before the House vote, bonds were selling in reaction to data that showed US domestic home construction rose to a 13-month peak in November, with single-family home construction hitting a 10-year high.

Now, bond investors could be pulling back on expectations of economic growth, said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer with BMO Private Bank in Chicago. "Some may be concerned the boost on the fiscal side can be offset by monetary tightening," Ablin said.

Benchmark 10-year US Treasury notes were last down 20/32 in price to yield 2.4644 percent, from 2.392 percent late Monday.

The 30-year bond was down 1-17/32 in price to yield 2.206 percent, from 2.744 percent.

The US dollar, which slipped on tax plan doubts on Monday, began to flatten on the unexpectedly strong housing data.

In late trading, the dollar rose 0.3 percent against the yen to 112.92 yen. It was little changed against the Swiss franc, but higher versus sterling as well as the Australian, Canadian and New Zealand dollars.

The dollar index, which fell 0.26 percent, was weaker against the euro, which was up 0.5 percent to $1.1840.

Gold, which dipped as US Treasury yields rose, is on track to post its narrowest trading range of any quarter in a decade in the last 3 months of the year.

Spot gold added 0.1 percent to $1,262.07 an ounce. US gold futures fell 0.02 percent to $1,265.20.

Oil rose slightly, aided by an ongoing North Sea pipeline outage, supply cuts and expectations that US crude inventories had fallen for a fifth week.

Brent crude was up 42 cents or 0.66 percent to $63.83 a barrel. US crude rose 47 cents or 0.8 percent to $57.69.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

EU investigates Ikea's Dutch tax deals

BRUSSELS - The EU on Monday opened an in-depth investigation into Swedish furniture giant Ikea's tax deals in the Netherlands, in the latest salvo by Brussels against the tax affairs of multinationals.

With the probe, the European Commission is taking a close look at the ways Ikea allegedly used a Dutch subsidiary to slash its tax bill on revenue from megastores around the world.

The case is the most ambitious one yet by Brussels against a multinational from Europe, and follows similar cases against US heavyweights Apple, Amazon and McDonald's.

They all come amid a wave of revelations such as the "Paradise Papers" and "LuxLeaks" that have turned the spotlight on how multinationals and the world's super rich use legal means to avoid paying tax.

"All companies, big or small, multinational or not, should pay their fair share of tax," the EU's anti-trust commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.

"Member states cannot let selected companies pay less tax by allowing them to artificially shift their profits elsewhere," she said.

The commission put no figure on its latest allegations against Ikea, but a report by the Green party in European Parliament last year said Ikea avoided one billion euros ($1.2 billion) in EU taxes between 2009 to 2014.

Privately held since its creation in 1943, the Ikea group has a complex corporate structure and is run by various foundations that has allowed it to stay clear of Sweden's high taxes.

'BIGGEST TAX HAVENS'

The commission's probe concerns 2 tax agreements brokered between the Netherlands and Inter Ikea, a Dutch-based unit of the retail giant that receives franchise fees from Ikea shops worldwide.

In the first tax ruling, between 2006 and 2011, Inter Ikea was allowed by the Netherlands to pay a hefty license fee to another Ikea unit in Luxembourg, thereby shifting revenue to a jurisdiction where it remained untaxed.

In 2011, after Brussels forced a law change in Luxembourg, Inter Ikea arranged a second ruling with the Netherlands, this time involving a complex loan arrangement with an Ikea unit in Liechtenstein, and again the Swedish company successfully shifted taxable revenue to a low tax jurisdiction.

"The Netherlands fully supports the Commission's work," said a senior Dutch EU official, adding that the government would have to look at the details of the case.

The move against Ikea came at the urging of the Greens party in European Parliament which mounted a major campaign to put the spotlight on Ikea.

"This is a huge success for the Greens as it comes from our initial complaint. Europe works," MEP Sven Giegold told AFP.

"It is shocking that the Netherlands, a founding member of the EU, is one of the biggest tax havens in the world," he said.

'BRING CLARITY'

Ikea in a statement insisted that its tax deals in the Netherlands did not breach EU laws.

"It is good if the investigation can bring clarity and confirm that," the company added.

Many of the Brussels probes came in the wake of the "LuxLeaks" scandal which revealed details of tax breaks given by the wealthy duchy to dozens of major US firms.

The revelations came as a particular embarrassment for European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who was prime minister of Luxembourg at the time when the tax deals were made.

In a similar Dutch case, the EU decided against coffee-shop chain Starbucks in the Netherlands and ordered the latte and espresso-maker to pay roughly 30 million euros in back taxes.

In accordance with Vestager's blockbuster 2015 decision against Apple, Ireland said earlier this month it would begin collecting the 13 billion euros in back taxes owed by the US-based iPhone-maker.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

FACTBOX: Republicans cut side deals to push through US Senate tax bill

WASHINGTON -- US Senate Republicans made last-minute changes to their tax bill to secure enough votes to pass the sweeping legislation on Saturday and move on to negotiations this week on a final measure with Republicans in the House of Representatives.

The deals enabled leadership to get 4 wavering Republican senators on board with the legislation by addressing issues such as deductions for state and local property taxes and the tax treatment of so-called pass-through enterprises.

Republicans also agreed to changes to help pay for the deals, including higher tax rates on the repatriation of US corporate profits held overseas.

Following are some of the changes:

* STATE AND LOCAL PROPERTY TAXES: Senator Susan Collins got Senate Republican leaders to include a federal deduction for up to $10,000 in state and local property taxes in the legislation, which eliminates a similar deduction for state and local income and sales taxes.

The nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation, or JCT, estimates that the change will mean the loss of an additional $148 billion in federal revenue over the next decade, compared with a legislative proposal approved earlier by the Senate Budget Committee.

* PASS-THROUGHS: Under pressure from Senators Ron Johnson and Steve Daines, Senate Republican leaders increased to 23 percent from 17.4 percent a deduction for the owners of pass-through enterprises including small businesses, S-corporations, partnerships and sole proprietorships.

JCT estimated revenue loss versus earlier legislative proposal: $114 billion.

* FULL EXPENSING: Senator Jeff Flake, who had been a holdout over deficit concerns, agreed to vote "yes" after Republican leaders did away with an abrupt end to the full business expensing of capital investments after five years. Instead, the bill phases out full expensing in 20 percent increments over 4 years, beginning in year 6. Flake said Congress would not have been able to suddenly eliminate full expensing and that benefit would have been left to bleed red ink for years to come.

JCT revenue loss estimate versus earlier legislative proposal: $34 billion.

* MEDICAL EXPENSES: Collins also added language to reduce the threshold for deducting unreimbursed medical expenses for 2 years to 7.5 percent of household income from 10 percent.

JCT estimated revenue loss versus earlier legislative proposal: $4.6 billion.

* RETIREMENT SAVINGS: Collins persuaded Republican leaders to retain catch-up contributions to retirement accounts for church, charity, school and public employees.

No immediate JCT revenue impact estimate.

* INDIVIDUAL ALTERNATIVE MINIMUM TAX: Republicans rescinded an earlier provision to repeal the individual AMT but increased exemption amounts and phase-out thresholds to make the tax less onerous.

JCT estimated revenue gain versus earlier legislative proposal: $133 billion over a decade.

* REPATRIATION: Senate Republicans increased tax rates on the repatriation of US corporate profits held overseas to 14.5 percent for liquid assets and 7.5 percent for illiquid holdings, up from 10 percent and 5 percent, respectively.

JCT estimated revenue gain versus earlier legislative proposal: $113 billion.

* CORPORATE ALTERNATIVE MINIMUM TAX: Republicans decided to retain this tax, after initially proposing its repeal.

JCT estimated revenue gain versus earlier legislative proposal: $40.3 billion.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Activists occupy Paris Apple store over EU tax dispute

PARIS - About a hundred activists occupied an Apple store in the French capital Saturday, demanding that the US technology giant pay billions of euros the EU says it owes in back taxes.

The members from Attac, a group that seeks alternatives to unbridled globalization, invaded the expansive two-level store near the Paris Opera for several hours -- leaving only after they were assured of a meeting with management.

"One hundred Attac activists occupied the Apple store" to demand the company "pay its fair share of taxes in the country in which it really operates," spokeswoman Aurelie Trouve said.

Members standing on the second-level balcony held a banner reading "We will stop when Apple pays", while others held signs that read "Pay your taxes".

"We received a formal commitment from an Apple manager that we would be granted a meeting with national leadership within 15 days," Trouve told AFP.

"If this meeting does not take place, we will come back before Christmas".

The group held about 30 demonstrations across France on Saturday, including at an Apple store in the southern city of Marseille.

Apple France was not immediately available for comment.

In August 2016, European authorities estimated that the company behind the iPhone owed $14.5 billion in back taxes after it negotiated highly favorable tax arrangements with the Irish government.

Revelations last month from the "Paradise Papers" shed light on Apple's tax avoidance strategy, which shifted tens of billion of dollars in profits from one fiscal haven to another.

The report -- from a trove of documents released by the US-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) -- said Apple transferred funds to the small island of Jersey, which typically does not tax corporate income and is largely exempt from European Union tax regulations.

Apple has said it follows the law in each country it operates.

Attac also protested against the company last month on the day Apple released its iPhone X globally, dumping a load of freshly picked apples as demonstrators carried signs saying "Apple, pay your taxes" in the southern city of Aix-en-Provence.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

EU orders Amazon to repay $295-M in Luxembourg back taxes

BRUSSELS - Amazon was told on Wednesday to pay about 250 million euros ($295 million) in back taxes to Luxembourg, the latest U.S. tech company to be caught up in a European Union crackdown on unfair tax deals.

The fine was much lower than some sources close to the case had expected and is only a fraction of the 13 billion euros that Apple Inc was ordered to pay to Ireland last year.

EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who has other big U.S. tech companies in her sights, has taken a tough line on multinational companies' approach to tax.


"Luxembourg gave illegal tax benefits to Amazon. As a result, almost three quarters of Amazon's profits were not taxed," Vestager said.

Amazon said it was considering an appeal.

"We believe that Amazon did not receive any special treatment from Luxembourg and that we paid tax in full accordance with both Luxembourg and international tax law," Amazon said in a statement after the announcement.

Amazon shares were little changed in early Wednesday trading.

Though the EU has taken on several U.S. tech companies, both in antitrust and in tax avoidance cases, Vestager said that her approach was not biased against foreign companies

"This is about competition in Europe, no matter your flag, no matter you ownership," Vestager said.

She also welcomed the debate kicked off by French President Emmanuel Macron who called for more integrated corporate tax regimes in Europe, aiming to close the loopholes used to reduce tax bills.

RAZOR THIN MARGINS

While the exact amount Amazon needs to repay is yet to be calculated, the 250 million euros is significantly less than the 400 million euros which sources close to the matter told Reuters a year ago was under consideration by Vestager.

The bill suggests the Commission believes Amazon shielded around 900 million euros in EU profits from tax, calculations by Reuters show.

For most of its existence, Amazon has worked on razor thin profit margins to fuel its global expansion, making only $2.4 billion profit on global revenues of $136 billion in 2016.

The Commission said Luxembourg allowed Amazon to channel a significant portion of its profits to a holding company without paying tax. The holding company was allowed to do this because it held certain intellectual property rights.

Tax advisers say an important way for companies to shift profits out of the United States is to sell intellectual property, like brands or patents, to a subsidiary in a country where such profits are not taxed and have that unit license the intellectual property to other overseas affiliates.

Amazon's corporate set up with subsidies in Luxembourg was also subject of a $1.5 billion court case with U.S. tax authorities, which Amazon won in March.

Amazon, which employs 1,500 in the grand duchy, is one of the biggest employers in the country of half a million people. It has a Europe-wide staff of some 50,000.

Luxembourg, whose tiny economy has benefited from providing a European base for multinational companies, rejected the finding and said it was looking at its legal options.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker was prime minister of Luxembourg for almost two decades until 2013 and has been criticised for his role in enabling the many tax deals that are now being unravelled. He denies doing anything wrong and says the Commission is committed to ensuring fair taxation.

In 2014, Luxembourg made international headlines in the wake of the publication of "LuxLeaks", documents that showed how large accounting firms helped multinational companies channel proceeds through the country while paying little or no tax.

Luxembourg is also under EU scrutiny over tax deals with fast food chain McDonald's and French energy company Engie. Luxembourg has appealed against a ruling in 2015 that carmaker Fiat should pay it back taxes. As well as Ireland, tax for multinationals in Belgium and the Netherlands have also come under Commission scrutiny.

"Luxembourg has been fully cooperating with the Commission in its investigation and is strongly committed to tax transparency and the fight against harmful tax avoidance," the country's finance ministry said on Wednesday.

Amazon revamped its European tax practices in 2015 so that it can book sales and pay taxes in Britain, Germany, Spain and Italy instead of channeling all sales through Luxembourg where it is headquartered, a move that may raise its tax bill.

(Addtional reporting by Tom Bergin, Editing by Alastair Macdonald, Jane Merriman and Mark Potter)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Trump's tax writeoff shows his 'genius' at business, advisers say

WASHINGTON - Donald Trump's decision to take a $916 million loss on his 1995 income tax return showed his business acumen and "genius" at figuring out how to minimize his tax bill, two of the Republican presidential candidate's advisers said on Sunday.

"This is a perfectly legal application of the tax code. And he would have been fool not to take advantage of it," said Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor who is one of Trump's advisers.

Speaking on the ABC program "This Week," Giuliani said that as a business owner, Trump has a "fiduciary duty" to the investors in his real estate company to maximize profits.

Giuliani compared Trump's ability to come back from the nearly $1-billion loss to turnarounds made by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and Winston Churchill, the former British prime minister who led the United Kingdom through World War Two.

"It shows what a genius he is. It shows he was able to preserve his enterprise, and then he was able to build it," Giuliani said on CNN's "State of the Union."

The New York Times reported on Saturday that it had obtained Trump's 1995 tax records and it quoted experts as saying that the $916 million loss he reported for that year may have allowed him to avoid paying federal income taxes for up to 18 years.

Susanne Craig, one of the Times reporters who was bylined on the story about Trump's tax records, said the tax documents arrived in a manila envelope in her mailbox at the Times with a return address of the Trump Organization.

She said a lawyer for Trump had threatened the newspaper with legal action if it decided to publish the documents.

The tax benefits outlined in the documents stemmed from financial deals Trump made that went bad in the early 1990s.

The Trump campaign, in a statement on Saturday, said the tax document was obtained illegally and accused the New York Times of operating as an extension of the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton, Trump's rival in the Nov. 8 election.

"I know our complex tax laws better than anyone who has ever run for president and am the only one who can fix them. #failing@nytimes," Trump wrote on Twitter on Sunday.

Chris Christie, the New Jersey governor and head of Trump's presidential transition team, said that Trump's records showed that the U.S. tax code was an "absolute mess" and that Trump was the best person to fix it.

"There's no one who has shown more genius in their way to maneuver about the tax code as he rightfully used the laws to do that," Christie said on "Fox News Sunday."

But Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon said the tax writeoff "shows the colossal scale of his business failures" and that the wealthy real estate developer operates under a different set of rules than ordinary taxpayers.

Clinton has repeatedly called on Trump to release his tax returns, as is standard procedure for modern presidential candidates.

Trump has declined to release his tax records, saying he will not do so until an audit of his returns by the Internal Revenue Service is complete.

The IRS has said that an audit does not bar an individual from sharing their own tax information.

(Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell and Lindsay Dunsmuir; Editing by Caren Bohan and Nick Zieminski)

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Clinton, Trump spar on taxes, security as race narrows

Hillary Clinton, sensing the urgency of a presidential campaign entering its home stretch, assailed Donald Trump on multiple fronts Tuesday, including hiding his taxes, as she looked to generate momentum after polls showed a dead heat.

Trump has edged ahead of Clinton in a new CNN/ORC poll, at 45 percent to 43 percent among likely voters, while an NBC News poll of registered voters shows Clinton's lead holding at six percentage points -- 48 percent to 42 percent.

Another survey, by The Washington Post, looking at all 50 states shows Clinton with a solid lead in terms of electoral college votes, and even strength in some traditional Republican strongholds.

Clinton said she pays no attention to such surveys.

"We're sticking with our strategy, we feel very good about where we are," she said.

But the polls show how close the race is looking ahead of the November 8 vote, making the battle for the so-called swing states all the more important.

Clinton rallied supporters at a voter registration event in swing state Florida, while the billionaire real estate mogul held a townhall meeting with military veterans before heading to North Carolina for an evening campaign rally.

"Thank you! #AmericaFirst," Trump tweeted with the new CNN poll results.

The candidates have just 20 days before the first of three scheduled presidential debates -- expected to be the most watched moments of an already raucous campaign.

- 'Coming after me' -
Clinton, in the national eye for three decades, shrugged off the intense nature of the Republican attacks against her, including a call for a fresh congressional investigation of the Clinton Foundation following reports that donors gained inappropriate access to her while she was secretary of state.

"I believe I'm the best person for this job and I believe they're going to keep coming after me," Clinton told reporters.

With Monday's Labor Day holiday kicking off the final dash to Election Day, Clinton took pains to make herself more than available to reporters traveling with her, after nearly nine months without holding a formal press conference.

She took questions for more than 20 minutes on her plane for a second straight day Tuesday.

Clinton had sharp words for Trump, describing him as "dead wrong" for saying that his tax returns were not the concern of everyday Americans, despite every major presidential nominee since Richard Nixon releasing their taxes before the election.

"I think it is a fundamental issue about him in this campaign that we're going to talk about in one way or another for the next 62 days, because he clearly has something to hide," Clinton told reporters.

"If he's going to pursue this campaign, he owes it to the American people to come clean and release those tax returns."

- 'Demagogue' -
Clinton also repeated her charge that Trump is "temperamentally unfit" for the office. Before some 1,500 supporters in Tampa, she denounced him as a "demagogue" preying on Americans' insecurities.

Trump assured veterans in Virginia Beach that he was in their corner, and used the opportunity to slam Clinton's ineffectiveness as a top diplomat and politician.

"She's a disaster in so many different ways, folks," he said.

"You have illegal immigrants that she wants... treated better than veterans."

The pair have been involved in an extensive tussle over the hot-button issue of immigration.

Clinton is promoting a pathway to citizenship for many of the 11 million people living in the shadows, while Trump wants to curtail immigration and require that those who wish to gain legalized status must leave the country first.

The two also exchanged shots about national security, with Trump warning that Clinton would be unable to stand up to adversaries like President Vladimir Putin of Russia.

"Putin looks at her and he laughs," Trump said.

Trump released a letter in which 88 retired generals and admirals endorsed him, a revelation dismissed by Clinton.

"I think we're up to 89, but who's counting?" she quipped, noting how several Republican national security figures have openly endorsed her or oppose Trump.

She also upbraided him for saying he would have stayed on his plane and left China if he were treated as President Barack Obama was last week, when he was forced to exit Air Force One from a rear door.

"This is a very consequential relationship," Clinton said of Washington's ties with Beijing.

"You don't get in a snick and stay on the plane and go home because your security and their security are scuffling over what stairs are going to be put up."

Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, a Clinton supporter, pointed to the hard-knuckled political battle ahead and urged Clinton to hit Trump relentlessly.

"Once you get someone down, you keep your foot on their throat," Buckhorn told AFP. "If I'm her, I'm hammering him every day and not letting up."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Duterte pushes lower tax rates, free WiFi

MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday gave a rundown of his reform agenda which includes lowering taxes, solving traffic jams, and relaxing bank secrecy rules as he vowed economic growth that is felt by the poor.

In his first State of the Nation Address, Duterte said he hoped to leave an economy that is “much stronger” by the end of his six-year term in 2022.

“My administration will continue and maintain current macroeconomic policies and even do better,” he told lawmakers, top government officials and diplomats.

“We will achieve this through prudent fiscal and monetary policies that can help translate high growth into more and better job creation and poverty reduction,” he said.

A strong economy, Duterte said, is characterized by “solid growth, low and stable inflation, dollar reserves and robust fiscal position.”

TAXES, BANK SECRECY

Duterte said he would lower personal and corporate income taxes and shift to a “simpler, more equitable” tax system.

He did not elaborate, but his economic managers have said income tax rates could be lowered to 25 percent from as high as 32 percent.

“At the household level, there must be sufficient income for all Filipinos,” he said.

Duterte also said he would “relax” the bank secrecy law.

Last February, hackers shifted $81 million from Bangladesh’s foreign reserves to the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. and then laundered in casinos, taking advantage of loopholes in the country’s banking and anti-money laundering laws.

TRANSPORT WOES

Duterte asked lawmakers for “emergency powers” to untangle crippling traffic jams in Metro Manila and listed down his plans to improve commuting in the capital city of 12 million people.

 "If you give it [emergency powers], fine; if not, we take the longer route, slowly, and tanggapin ko ‘yung pagmumura ninyo," he said.

The country loses P2.4 billion daily due to the traffic problem.

Additional powers may include doing away with public bidding for some projects and opening private subdivisions to traffic, according to his economic team.

Duterte said the transportation department would increase the number of trains on the Metro Rail Transit to 20 from the current 16 and increase train speeds to 60 kph from 40 kph.

Operating hours at the Light Rail Transit will be extended by an hour at night to 10:30 p.m. from 9:30 p.m.

The Pasig River ferry as an alternative mode of transport will be revived, he said.

General aviation will be transferred to Sangley Point to help decongest the main airport in Manila, and a railway will be constructed from the capital to Clark International Airport, an alternative gateway.

INTERNET, RED TAPE

Duterte ordered the drafting of a plan to install a national broadband infrastructure and said free wireless internet would be made available in public places.

He said he would reduce the processing time for issuing business permits and licenses "to the barest minimum," as he reiterated his order to crack down on red tape.

"In my city, it is always three days for local governments, that will bind the Office of the President down to barangay level," said the former Davao City mayor.

Motor vehicle plates should also be issued at the point of sale to prevent backlogs at the Land Transportation Office, he said.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Barcelona soccer star Messi sentenced to 21 months in prison

MADRID - Barcelona soccer star Lionel Messi has been sentenced to 21 months in prison after a court in Barcelona found him guilty of three counts of tax fraud, a statement from the court said on Wednesday.

The court also sentenced the Argentine soccer player's father, Jorge, to 21 months in prison for the same three crimes. The sentence can be appealed through the Spanish supreme court, the statement said.

However, under Spanish law a prison sentence under two years can be served under probation, meaning Messi and his father are unlikely to go to jail.

The court ordered Messi to pay a fine of around 2 million euros ($2.21 million) and his father to pay 1.5 million euros for the crimes. (Reporting by Madrid newsroom; Writing by Angus Berwick; Editing by Sonya Dowsett)

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Obama's inversion curbs kill Pfizer's $160-B Allergan deal

NEW YORK - U.S. drug maker Pfizer Inc agreed on Tuesday to terminate its $160 billion agreement to acquire Botox maker Allergan Plc, in a major victory to U.S. President Barack Obama's drive to stop tax-dodging corporate mergers.

The decision to end the biggest tax "inversion" ever attempted, which would have seen Pfizer slash its tax bill by redomiciling to Ireland where Allergan is registered, came a day after the U.S. Treasury unveiled new rules to curb inversions.

While these new rules did not name Pfizer and Allergan, one of their provisions targeted a specific feature of their merger; Allergan's previous history as a major acquirer of other companies. The subsequent demise of the deal allows Obama to claim a big win during his last year in office.

Earlier on Tuesday, Obama called global tax avoidance a "huge problem" and urged Congress to take action to stop U.S. companies from tax-avoiding corporate "inversions", which lower companies tax bills by redomiciling overseas.

"While the Treasury Department's actions will make it more difficult... to exploit this particular corporate inversions loophole, only Congress can close it for good," Obama said.

Pfizer and Allergan will announce the termination of their deal on Wednesday, a source familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified ahead of any official statement. Pfizer and Allergan declined to comment.

Pfizer was concerned that any tweaks to salvage the inversion might have provoked new rules by the U.S. Treasury, and so was leaning earlier on Tuesday to end the deal, a source had earlier told Reuters.

Pfizer will have to pay Allergan up to $400 million for its expenses as a result of terminating the deal, according to their merger agreement.

Pfizer shares had ended trading in New York on Tuesday up 2 percent on hopes the company would walk away or renegotiate the deal in its favor. Allergan shares closed down 14.8 percent to their lowest level since October 2014.

Several U.S. presidential candidates, including Republican Donald Trump and Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, have seized on the issue in their campaigns.

"We have so many companies leaving, it is disgraceful," Trump told reporters as he greeted voters in Waukesha, Wisconsin on Tuesday. Clinton and Sanders both expressed support for Treasury's plan.

Besides Pfizer-Allergan, other pending inversion deals that have not yet closed include the proposed $16.5 billion merger of Johnson Controls Inc with Ireland-based Tyco International Plc, Waste Connections Inc's $2.67 billion deal with Canada's Progressive Waste Solutions Ltd, and IHS Inc's $13 billion acquisition of London-based Markit Ltd.

In all these cases, the shares of the target companies fell only slightly. Johnson Controls and Tyco said they would respond after conducting a review of the new rules.

Waste Connections and Progressive Waste Solutions said they expected the rules would impact less than 3 percent of the combined adjusted free cash flow in their first year after the deal.

IHS and Markit said they believed the rules would not affect their adjusted effective tax rate guidance of a low to mid-twenties percentage range.

THREE-YEAR RULE

Under previous rules which still apply, Allergan shareholders needed to own at least 40 percent of the combined company for the two companies to enjoy the full tax benefits of an inversion, and more than 20 percent to have any inversion benefit at all.

But a new 'three-year-look-back rule' issued by the Treasury on Monday made this much harder for Allergan, and appeared to take aim directly at it because of how the company was put together.

The new rule does not allow stock accumulated through a foreign company's U.S. deals in the last three years to count towards the book value needed to meet the inversion threshold.

This weighed on Allergan heavily because of its significant deals in this timeframe. These include the $66 billion merger of Allergan and Actavis Plc, the $25 billion purchase of Forest Laboratories and the $5 billion takeover of Warner Chilcott.

"The serial acquisition portion of the regulations will cause Pfizer to be treated as an 'expatriated entity' (under the terms of its existing deal with Allergan)," Robert Willens, a corporate tax and accounting analyst, wrote in a note.

SHEDDING GENERICS

In a second change to the rules, the Treasury also said it would seek to limit a practice known as earnings stripping that is often undertaken following, but not limited to, an inversion. The new Treasury rules would restrict related-party debt for U.S. subsidiaries in dealings that do not finance new investment in the United States.

Without Allergan's new, fast-growing medicines, Pfizer may need to look for other companies with attractive products, such as U.S. drugmakers Biogen Inc, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc and AbbVie Inc, said Raghuram Selvaraju, managing director of brokerage H.C. Wainwright.

Pfizer had planned to make a decision by 2016 whether to split off its hundreds of generic medicines, but delayed the decision until 2019 after announcing its merger with Allergan. Morningstar analyst Damien Conover had said the decision could be moved to late 2017 or 2018 if the deal with Allergan collapsed.

Pfizer, which announced the deal in November, had said its tax rate would drop to about 17 or 18 percent after the deal, from around 25 percent. That would have represented more than $1 billion in annual cost savings.

The deal's collapse is also a blow to the investment banks involved. Guggenheim Partners LLC, Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Centerview Partners Holdings LLC and Moelis & Co stood to share $94 million in fees advising Pfizer had the deal closed, while Allergan would have paid its advisors, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Morgan Stanley, $142 million in total, according to the latest estimates by Freeman & Co LLC.

Bankers may now get paid only 10 percent of these amounts, according to Freeman.

This is not the first time a tightening of the U.S. inversion rules have caused a merger to unravel. U.S. pharmaceutical company AbbVie abandoned its $55 billion takeover of Ireland-domiciled peer Shire Plc after the Obama administration cracked down on inversions in 2014. AbbVie had to pay Shire a $1.6 billion break-up fee.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Google to pay 130-M pounds to Britain in back taxes

LONDON, United Kingdom - Technology giant Google is to pay £130 million (172 million euros, $185.4 million) in back taxes to Britain following a government inquiry into its tax arrangements, a company spokeswoman said Friday.

It follows a six-year probe by Britain's HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in response to controversy over low taxes paid by multinational corporations which operate in Britain but have headquarters elsewhere.

"We have agreed with HMRC a new approach for our UK taxes and will pay £130 million, covering taxes since 2005," a Google spokeswoman said.

"The way multinational companies are taxed has been debated for many years and the international tax system is changing as a result. This settlement reflects that shift."

In future, Google will pay taxes in Britain according to revenue from advertisers based in Britain, something that "reflects the size and scope of our UK business", the spokeswoman said.

The BBC reported that Google would now register a greater proportion of its sales activity in Britain rather than Ireland, where its European headquarters is based and which has a lower rate of corporation tax.

An HMRC spokesman welcomed the agreement.

"The successful conclusion of HMRC inquiries has secured a substantial result, which means that Google will pay the full tax due in law on profits that belong in the UK," the spokesman said.

"Multinational companies must pay the tax that is due and we do not accept less."

Britain's finance minister George Osborne has vowed to close tax loopholes and introduce a so-called "Google tax" to stop firms moving profits overseas.

Google is among several top technology firms under pressure over complex tax arrangements.

Apple agreed to pay Italy 318 million euros to settle a tax dispute last month, and in November world leaders of the Group of 20 top economies vowed to clamp down on schemes by multinationals to minimise tax.

The plan would force multinationals to pay tax in the country where their main business activity is based.

The OECD group of rich nations has estimated that national governments lose $100-240 billion (89-210 billion euros), or 4-10 percent of global tax revenues, every year because of the tax-minimising schemes of multinationals.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Trump coy on releasing tax returns

WASHINGTON, United States - Billionaire Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump said Sunday he tries to pay as little tax as possible, and kept Americans in suspense as to whether he will release his tax returns.

That disclosure is a staple for American presidential candidates. Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton did so on Friday, making public the returns of her and husband Bill for the past seven years. Over the years the duo have released their tax returns going back to the 1970s.

Trump, the brash, trash-talking real estate mogul leading the crowded pack of Republican hopefuls as they prepare for their first debate this week, did the rounds of US morning talk shows again Sunday. He was on three of them.

Among other things, he said President Barack Obama, the nation's first African-American president, has done little for blacks in America.

"I thought he would do a fabulous job for the African-American citizens of this country. He has done nothing. They are worse now than just about ever," Trump said on ABC's "This Week".

On national security, when asked if he would bring back the practice of interrogating terror suspects with waterboarding, Trump said he is sure the torture technique works.

"When you see the other side chopping off heads, waterboarding doesn't sound very severe," added Trump.

Clinton jab

On money and taxes, Trump said on CBS' "Face the Nation" that as a businessman, and like every other American, he tries to pay as little as possible.

Another reason is that "I hate the way our government spends our taxes. I hate the way they waste our money."

Trump, who has said he is worth more than $10 billion, told CBS he has "no major problem" with disclosing his tax returns.

He added, though, "I may tie them to a release of Hillary's emails."

This was an allusion to Clinton's use of a private server and email account while she was serving as secretary of state under Obama.

Clinton has turned over 55,000 pages of emails, which the government has now started to study and release, at least those not considered confidential.

A new poll again showed the power of Trump at this point in the campaign for next year's presidential election.

The NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey said he is the first choice among 19 percent of Republicans polled, followed by Wisconsin governor Scott Walker with 15 percent, and former Florida governor Jeb Bush at 14 percent. But the poll had a margin of error of six percentage points.

Trump will almost certainly be the center of attention of at Thursday's televised debate among the top 10 Republican hopefuls in Cleveland, Ohio. A total of 17 are running for the nomination.

Some of Trump's adversaries say he is a mere flash in the pan and will not last.

Trump was coy when asked if he would run as an independent if he does not do well in the party primaries. Such a breakaway candidacy would presumably draw votes away from the Republicans and pose a nightmare for them.

"If I'm treated fairly by the Republican Party, I would have no interest in doing that," he told ABC.

"If I'm not treated fairly by the Republican Party, I very well might consider that. And I would certainly not give that up."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Banks reopen, taxes rise as Greece pays billions to creditors

ATHENS, Greece - Greece's government hiked taxes and paid billions of euros to its creditors on Monday, as banks reopened just days after the debt-laden country reached a reforms-for-cash deal with its European partners.

Greeks woke up to widespread tax rises -- on everything from sugar and cocoa to condoms, taxis and funerals -- as part of the tough reform package agreed last week in exchange for a three-year bailout of up to 86 billion euros ($93 billion) aimed at keeping Greece from crashing out of the eurozone.

The nation's banks were thronged with customers after a three-week shutdown estimated to have cost the economy 3.0 billion euros. The banks were ordered to close on June 29 to prevent mass cash withdrawals that could have caused the financial system to collapse.

Banks are continuing to offer only limited services -- with a ban on most transfers to foreign banks among the capital control measures still in place -- but a daily cash withdrawal limit of 60 euros ($65) has been relaxed.

Bank tellers were dealing with a hectic stream of customers, many expressing frustration over continuing restrictions on financial services.

"I came today to collect my pension but unfortunately I could only get a small percentage of it," said Spyros Papasotiriou as he left his bank in the northern Athens suburb of Neo Psychiko. "It's a big hassle."

A source close to the Greek finance ministry meanwhile confirmed that the government had completed payments of billions of euros that were due to the European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund on Monday, after the EU granted emergency bridge funding of 7.16 billion euros.

The IMF separately announced that Greece was no longer in default on its loans after remitting about two billion euros ($2.2 billion) to make up for missed repayments, while an ECB spokesperson said: "The ECB confirms it has been repaid."

Value-added tax (VAT) has gone up from 13 percent to 23 percent on a wide range of goods and services, although the tax on medicines, books and newspapers eased from 6.5 percent to 6.0 percent.

Tryphon Alexiadis, the new finance vice minister in charge of tax, vowed that "not a single euro from the tax rise will escape state coffers", adding that "a wave of inspections will be launched" to prevent tax evasion in a country where the problem is notoriously rife.

Along with the tax hikes, the Greek government -- led by the radical-left Syriza party that came to power in January promising to end austerity -- is also set to overhaul its ailing pension system as part of the reforms deal, and launch privatisations it had previously opposed.

'Crash test'

Louka Katseli, the head of Greece's bank association, said some 40 billion euros have been withdrawn from Greek banks since December by customers anxious over the safety of their deposits, seriously damaging the banks' ability to function normally.

She urged people to bring their savings back to the banks to support the crisis-hit financial system.

"If we take out the money from our safes and our houses -- where, in any case, it isn't safe -- and we deposit it in the banks, we will reinforce liquidity," she told the Mega TV channel.

Greeks are now able to withdraw a maximum of 300 euros at once until Friday, when a new weekly limit of 420 euros takes effect.

They can also use their credit cards for foreign purchases again, and certain exceptions to the capital controls have been introduced to help Greeks who are studying or undergoing medical treatment abroad.

But most people remain unable to take out large sums, transfer money to other countries or open new bank accounts.

The capital controls are taking a heavy toll on Greek businesses, with 23 percent of firms saying they are seeking to move their headquarters abroad to improve stability and cash-flow, according to a survey released Monday by non-profit group Endeavour Greece.

The austerity package caused a mutiny among lawmakers of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras's ruling Syriza party -- forcing him to carry out a limited cabinet reshuffle on Friday -- and he faces a fresh challenge on Wednesday when parliament must approve a second wave of reforms tied to the rescue package.

Pro-government newspaper Avgi said the vote would be a "crash test" that could even result in Tsipras's resignation.

"If there are new losses, in whatever form, (Tsipras) will hand back his mandate," the daily said.

Analysts have said the divisions within the ruling party could force early elections.

Government spokeswoman Olga Gerovassili ruled out another vote while Athens was still negotiating the bailout.

"Elections are not useful at the moment and the government has no intention of organising any," Gerovassili told state news agency ANA.

"The goal is to finalise the deal (with Europe) and restore normality and stability," she said.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com