Good morning and welcome to the IC’s live blog, where we round up the biggest business stories of the day and overnight news from the US
19 for you and one for me…
Chief executives of many of the biggest companies in the US have paid shockingly little in tax as their wealth ballooned, according to leaked documents.
Investigative journalism site ProPublica said it had obtained private records revealing how the country’s 25 richest people — including Warren Buffet, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk — collectively paid just $13.6bn in income tax in the five years to 2018, despite their wealth inflating by an estimated $401bn.
Other news organisations have been unable to confirm the details of the leak, which found only legal tax-avoidance strategies were used, but US authorities have now launched an investigation into its source.
The report will only further fuel the public anger that has recently pushed the world’s leading economies to seek a consensus on taxing multinational corporations. Last weekend, the G7 said they had reached a “historic agreement” on how to stop companies shifting profits to low-tax jurisdictions and ensure the largest pay more tax where they operate.
But, according to the Financial Times, Rishi Sunak is now pushing for an exemption for City of London businesses in the deal. Such a move will not help quell the general contempt for financial firms that has only inflated in the years since the 2008 crisis. OT
Read our live blog below to catch up with the rest of today’s top stories and find out what they mean for your money.
