Early examples of tax avoidance
Martin's accounting blog
by martinjquinn
3w ago
While we hear a lot about tax avoidance and tax evasion today, I think it is something we always have had and probably always will. To be clear avoidance is using legal means, evasion is the illegal one. I can recall as a young kid being told by my father that old houses had less or smaller windows due to a window tax – see here https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/georgian-britain-age-modernity/window-tax/. Or here is another example, a curved brick wall which used less bricks – and it’s also quite nice to look at https://www.linkedin.com/posts/historicengland_have-you-ever ..read more
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Taxes on unhealthy food products
Martin's accounting blog
by martinjquinn
10M ago
I recall many years ago when I was studying for my accounting exams. One of the things we learned about Irish valued added tax (VAT) is that the rate of zero tended to apply to basic foods – milk, bread, for example – with higher rates generally applying to more “luxury” items. Having had a recent article in the Guardian, it made me think about whether VAT would be a good way to increase taxes on unhealthy foods like sugar – unhealthy in that there tends to be too much in certain processed foods. It seems logical and sensible, and in the article, even a large food company is asking for such c ..read more
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Flying in private jets
Martin's accounting blog
by martinjquinn
1y ago
Typically the remit of the wealthy and political sphere, private jets are beyond the reach of most given their purchase price. Some corporates lease jets or hire them by trip. Of course, the question of how environmentally sound they are looms large. A recent Guardian article gives some good insights ..read more
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Rural electrification in Ireland – new book
Martin's accounting blog
by martinjquinn
1y ago
A slightly personal post. I am from a small village in Dublin, whose claim to fame is that it was the first rural area to receive electricity back in 1947. It may be hard for us to imagine the effect this had on rural life, but it was a life changing event, a revolution. That was 75 years ago. As part of Oldtown’s marking of this anniversary I had the honour of writing a short book about events around the arrival of power to my village. A key reason for writing the book was to ensure that knowledge is not lost, and to put some focus on Oldtown as the first step in this revolution which change ..read more
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Free school transport?
Martin's accounting blog
by martinjquinn
1y ago
Back in 1985 I took my first trip on a school bus to my new secondary school. At that time, school transport was free, and Ireland’s economy was not in great shape. The buses were honestly heaps of scrap, often breaking down, and very over-crowded. Then, at some stage before 1990, we had to pay for a ticket each term. I finished school, but could see school transport got better. Over time too the Irish economy got better. Until recently ticket price for school transport was about €350 per term. In July, the Irish government announced school transport would again be free – see here. The scrapp ..read more
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The end of low cost air fares?
Martin's accounting blog
by martinjquinn
1y ago
Over the years, I have used lose cost airlines as examples in several of my blog posts. Carriers like Ryanair have always interested me – whether you love them or hate them they are successful. A recent article on RTE’s business section gives a good summary of the low cost sector, but also considers how costs have and will increase, leaving no option but to increase fares. You can read the article here ..read more
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Increasing fuel costs – Repsol provide interest approch
Martin's accounting blog
by martinjquinn
2y ago
Image from https://www.nbc11news.com/content/news/Gas-prices-hike-in-Colorado-higher-than-national-average-507403181.html With recent events in Ukraine, the world has faced a sharp rise in fuel prices. This applies to individuals and business. Here in Ireland where I live, our government has reduced the taxes on fuels, which in turn reduce the at pump price. Repsol, a Spanish company has taken an interesting initiative. They have reduced prices of fuel by 10c per litre, but only if you pay using their app Waylet. Thinking as a management accountant, I am thinking this is quite smart on their p ..read more
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Safety as a cost centre in Facebook?
Martin's accounting blog
by martinjquinn
2y ago
Photo by Roly Vasquez on Pexels.com In October, a former Facebook employee Frances Haugen told the UK parliament that Facebook “views safety as a cost centre and not an investment for growth” (CNN). This made me think of two things. First, what is a cost centre. A simple definition is some unit, part of function of an organisation for which costs can be identified and for which a manager can be held responsible. I am sure Facebook can identify the costs associated with keeping people safe online, and there could/should be a cost centre manager. Whether Facebook actually does have someone respo ..read more
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Accounting in farming
Martin's accounting blog
by martinjquinn
2y ago
Image from Grandtournation Whether you love or hate Jeremy Clarkson, the Clarkson’s Farm series on Amazon conveys many of the challenges faced by farmers. In the last ten minutes of the final episode of Season 1, the financial challenges are highlighted. As I watched this part of the show, I guessed a figure of £10,000 profit. The actual profit shown was £144 on arable farming in what was a weather affected year ( yields were down 40%). This would be increased by subsidies, but one has to question the viability, or more importantly the sustainability of farming if such low incomes are generate ..read more
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A new definition of accounting.
Martin's accounting blog
by martinjquinn
2y ago
Photo by Nothing Ahead on Pexels.com It has been a while since my last post, busy times. I hope to be able to get back to more regular posting now. When I teach accounting to students for the first time, I typically draw on definitions which used words like “economic” and “communication”. Such definitions are of course a bit dated, and I typically provide more current insights on what accounting actually is, bringing in accounting for non-financial items and accounting for resources. I am always keen to emphasise the communicative element of accounting – it is after all data, transposed to inf ..read more
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