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Category Archives: Financial Articles

Tax and the Civilised Society: Action Day in London, June 8

Tax and the Civilised Society
Saturday 8th June, London, 10.30am-5.30pm

The Tax Justice Network and Tipping Point Film Fund are jointly organising a day of activity in London on Saturday 8th June designed to engage all those – public and campaigners alike – who would like to know more about why tax matters to society and therefore the need  to intensify the spotlight on tax avoidance. The day will include two film screenings with panel discussions, a ‘revelatory’ walking tour of the City of London and a great list of contributors to the day’s events.

PROGRAMME OF EVENTS – SATURDAY 8TH JUNE

10.30am-12.20pm St Ethelberga’s Centre, 78 Bishopsgate, London EC2N 4AG
Tax and the Global Good

Film: ‘We’re Not Broke’. Read more…

Edmonton Real Estate Market Weekly Update, May 10/13

Here is our update on the Edmonton real estate market. (Previous week’s numbers are in brackets). For the past 7 days:

New Listings: 568 (551, 481, 563)
# Sales: 305 (300, 334, 302)
Ratio: 54% (54%, 69%, 54%)
# Price Changes: 277 (232, 228, 216)
# Expired/Off Market Listings: 104 (228, 79, 125)
Net loss/gain in listings this week: 159 (23, 68, 136)
Active single family home listings: 2505 (2382, 2346, 2294)
Active condo listings: 1873 (1816, 1822, 1785)
Homes 4-week running average: $411k ($407k, $411k, $412k)
Condos 4-week running average: $239k ($241k, $244k, $239)

There has been a slight uptick in listing activity, but we’re still well below last year’s inventory levels. Builders are getting busy in Edmonton too – according to CMHC housing starts were up significantly in April.

Read more…

Who’s to blame for the rebate tax debacle?

When you invest in funds via a discount broker or fund supermarket of any kind, you tend to do so for one main reason: commission rebates. When you buy a mainstream fund you will find that it still comes with an annual fee of something in the region of 1.5%. Around 0.5%-75% of that will usually be earmarked for trail commission – an annual payment designed to be made to the independent financial advisor (IFA) or broker who put you in the fund in the first place. You can think of it as a financial ‘thank you’ from one financial service provider to another. IFAs are no longer allowed to accept these payments, but the investing platforms still are. So, in order to cut your costs and keep their offerings attractive, they rebate them back to you.

So here’s a question: whose money is the broker giving you?

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New Homes in Mature Neighbourhoods

I call it the best of both worlds: a new house, in an old community. There are a lot of people would love to live in one of Edmonton’s “established” neighbourhoods without having to worry about leaky basements and roofs, poor insulation, old plumbing and electrical fixtures and all the other “problems” that come with an older home.

I grew up in a 165 year old farmhouse, that we heated with two woodstoves – and this was in the ’80s. It was absolutely beautiful. The first home I owned was built in the ’20s in a neighbourhood where most of the homes where built in the 1800′s. So I can appreciate a beautiful old home… but many people aren’t as enamoured with them as I am. 

Finding one of these “infill” gems can be a challenge, so I’ve put together a list of new homes for sale in mature neighbourhoods. It includes attached and detached homes and condos, built after 2005 in neighbourhoods defined as “mature” by the city of Edmonton.

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Using Technology To Make Your Business Grow

Internet is todays one and the most used network channel.  Through Internet you can connect anywhere across the world for any purpose.  This is all possible due to fast growing technology, the web-based technology.  Experts in this technology develop web sites for organizations, companies, etc.

This technology is called web designing.  This technology has made business very simple, “at the click of mouse.”  The entire portal of a particular organization or a business entity can be found on companys website.  The websites have a name with an extension like.com, .org, co.in, etc.  Apart from this, various portals are available that help you to connect various parties with each other.  For example, a portal called indiamart.com, through which a seller can find buyers for his product and vice versa, a buyer can search for dealer in a particular product.  A business deal can be done in this way.  Nowadays there is a trend of online trading.  You don’t have to go to a stock exchange to buy and sell stocks.

It can all be done through online trading through BSE portal.  You can send an urgent message to anybody via email within fraction of seconds.  Any information you want relating to any person, place, product, address, doctor, lawyer, any retail outlet can be obtained within seconds through Google.  Railway booking can be through internet, just sitting at home, in 2 minutes.   People can hold live chat with clients and subordinates through various portals like MSN, Yahoo, Net meeting.  In fact, the technology has progressed so far that you can now even watch your business associates via video conference and conduct conferences and meetings from any part of the world.

You can finalize a deal just while travelling in your car.  There are many jobs which people can do sitting from their home.  Transcription (legal, medical, business) is one such occupation through which many people across the world are working from the comfort of home.  This is called “online job processing work.

Banking has become easier and simpler through Net banking.  You can carry out transactions right from your mobile itself.

Links Apr 5

BVI not responsible for leak of sensitive financial information – gov’t BVI News
A response to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) offshore financial secrecy project. The BVI in full head-in-the-sand denial mode.

France: Cahuzac Swiss bank account scandal threatens Hollande’s presidency BBC See also:
Ex-minister lets Swiss pass bank data to France swissinfo

As Banks in Cyprus Falter, Other Tax Havens Step In New York Times

Cyprus Considers Corporate Tax Break To Retain Business Tax-News

Australia to force multinationals to disclose tax arrangements The Guardian

Afghans warned: the taxman is coming after you Reuters

UK MPs Criticise Pakistani Tax Avoidance In Aid Row Tax-News

‘Secrecy-Cloaked Companies’: Deutsche Bank Criticized for Offshore Operations Der Spiegel

Barclays tax avoidance division generated £1bn a year – Salz review The Guardian

Money-Laundering Banks Still Get a Pass From U.S. Read more…

Near Peak Prices a Result of Low Supply in Edmonton

Sales of single family homes were strong in Edmonton in March – 750 homes sold through the MLS® system (down slightly from 766 last year). If there were more homes on the market, that showed well, I am certain this number would be higher. My stats show the inventory of single family homes on the market are the lowest we’ve seen in March since at least 2009 (unfortunately I didn’t start tracking this stat until 2009 but I suspect this is the lowest level since 2007).

Condos sales were up from last year – 365 condos sold in Edmonton in March compared to 319 last year. When we see upward pressure on single family home prices and demand, condo sales tend to improve as buyers seek more affordable options.

The average price for single family homes sold in Edmonton in March was $405,779 (up from $389k last year and $393k last month) – the highest average price we’ve seen since October 2007, putting us close to peak prices.

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