UK politics
fromBusiness Matters
1 day agoOECD urges reeves to overhaul 'inefficient' UK tax system
Britain's tax system needs urgent reform to boost economic growth, according to the OECD.
One way is to increase income taxes. There's also the option for an annual or one-off wealth tax on everything someone has above a certain mark. A few governments want to tax extreme wealth to lower taxes on a stagnating middle class or to make up for social inequality.
These figures reflect what we see every day. Compliance isn't difficult because people are careless—it's difficult because it's fragmented, deadline-driven, and overwhelmingly manual.
Under current rules, once a business exceeds £90,000 in taxable turnover, it must register for VAT and charge 20 per cent on most goods and services. Registration also brings quarterly reporting requirements and compliance costs, often requiring specialist accounting support.
HMRC said 27,456 taxpayers filed in the final hour before the midnight cut-off at the end of Saturday, after the tax authority kept helplines open and extended webchat services over the weekend in a bid to help late filers. The busiest period for online submissions was between 5pm and 6pm on Saturday. In total, 475,722 people filed on the final day, bringing the overall number of submissions for the 2024-25 tax year to around 11.5 million.
He managed to get a bill on social security spending approved by year end, but lawmakers have failed to reach a compromise on state expenses. Lécornu's office said late on Thursday that it would be "impossible to adopt a budget by a vote" and that it would be looking at two alternative options. One is to use a constitutional power under Article 49.3 to push the legislation through parliament without a vote, as for previous budgets.
The European Central Bank said Friday it had fined French bank Credit Agricole €7.55 million ($9 million) for failing to properly identify climate change-related risks that could affect its balance sheet. "Credit Agricole did not sufficiently assess the materiality of its climate-related and environmental risks" by a deadline set after an investigation in 2024, the ECB said in a statement, adding the bank was late by "75 full days".
Budget negotiations have consumed the French political class for nearly two years, after President Emmanuel Macron's 2024 snap election delivered a hung parliament just as a massive hole in public finances made belt-tightening more urgent. The budget talks have cost two prime ministers their jobs, unsettled debt markets and alarmed France's European partners. However, Lecornu whose chaotic two-stage nomination in October drew derision around the world managed to secure the support of Socialist lawmakers through costly but targeted concessions.
According to the text that has now been adopted, the budget deficit is to be reduced to 5% of gross domestic product. There will be higher taxes on some businesses, including an extra tax on large companies' profits, which is expected to bring in around 7.3 billion ($8.6 billion) in 2026. The plan also boosts military spending by 6.5 billion, a move the premier last week described as the "heart" of the budget.
The French Culture Ministry has confirmed to The Local that non-EU citizens who live in France will not have to pay the new higher museum ticket prices for non-European visitors. At the start of 2026 France unveiled a new price structure for its national museums - including the Louvre and Versailles - that charges higher prices to non-EU visitors. However, it was not clear whether this new price hike also affected non-EU citizens who are residents in France and have a carte de séjour.