Head of Research at the ASI, Ben Southwood, discussed corporation tax and the possibility of replacing it with a sales tax on the Today programme. Ben argues that this would be a less distortionary way to charge firms tax. Listen to the full clip here.
Ben Southwood discusses Google's corporation tax bill on BBC 5 Live
Ben Southwood, head of research at the ASI, took part in an interview on BBC 5 Live where he talked about corporation tax and Google's agreement to pay £130million of tax in the UK. He argues what they're doing is perfectly legitimate:
I don't think there's a strong case at all that Google has paid a wrong amount.
Listen to the full interview here. (Starts 12:48)
Brownfield Land Won't Be Enough To Solve London's Housing Crisis | Sam Bowman writes for the Londonist
Sam Bowman, Executive Director at the ASI, wrote an article for the Londonist discussing the need to develop more than just brownfield sites, in order to meet the demand for housing in the UK.
At the margin, brownfield can be part of the mix but the idea that it can provide the land for all or even most of our needs is fairly muddled. Brownfield can be costly and sometimes less environmentally friendly to build on than greenfield. Brownfield sites often aren’t in the right places. And the brownfield that is suitable for development is already being developed.
We shouldn't just Buy British | Sam Bowman writes for the IBTimes
Executive director at the ASI, Sam Bowman, wrote for the IBTimes on the drawbacks of preferentially buying British good and services.
Public spending should not be a jobs programme, it should be about providing specific services. Buying British, of course, really means 'buying British when a cheaper and/or better foreign alternative exists'. So given limited resources, buying British means either an inferior product or less money to spend elsewhere. That means that Buying British is a transfer from taxpayers and the users of public services to whichever manufacturers have the loudest lobbyists.
Let’s ignore Google’s tax bill and scrap corporation tax altogether | Ben Southwood writes for City AM
Head of Research at the ASI, Ben Southwood, discusses the £130 million in corporation tax that Google has agreed to pay, and what the potential benefits are of scrapping the tax altogether:
Investment – into tools, infrastructure, skills, and better organisation – is what makes us more productive. Higher productivity means more goods to go around and higher living standards. Most economists, across the ideological spectrum, agree that capital should ideally not be taxed at all; in fact the result most convincingly showing this is the “Atkinson-Stiglitz theorem”, after famously progressive Anthony Atkinson and Joseph Stiglitz. Corporation tax flies in the face of this, reducing returns and hence disincentivising investment.
Eamonn Butler's letter regarding Oyster Card rewards features in the Evening Standard
Dr Eamonn Butler, Director of the ASI, has had his letter regarding Oyster Card rewards for the theatre featured in the Evening Standard
Sadiq Khan's planned Oyster Card rewards for theatre tickets sounds both wooly and unfair. The money to subsidise these tickets has to come from somewhere. Why should, for example, brick layers in Barking pay higher Tube and bus fares to subsidise people going to the theatre?
Davos: Oxfam is ignoring the fact that the world's poor are getting richer |Ben Southwood writes for the IB Times
Head of Research at the ASI, Ben Southwood, has written for the IB Times on why Oxfam's inequality report was so misleading, and why the real story should be how the worlds poorest are actually wealthier now, with higher living standards.
While we might lament that solving developing world poverty seems such a slow and difficult task, we shouldn't omit the fact that we're going in the right direction. Oxfam's data is misleading, beset with statistical niggles, and comes with the wrong conclusion. Let's hope the bigwigs at Davos don't take it too seriously.
ASI Paper 'Sound Money' features on Money Week
Anthony J Evans, senior fellow at the ASI, has had his latest paper for the ASI, Sound Money, featured on Money Week for its proposals in support of abolishing the Bank of England and supporting a system of free banking.
According to its supporters – including the Adam Smith Institute (ASI) think tank, which has just published a paper by economist Anthony Evans reviewing and promoting the case in favour – it’s an idea whose time has come again.
Sam Bowman discusses whether there's a case for 'Buying British' on BBC Radio 4
Executive Director of the ASI, Sam Bowman, took part in a debate for BBC Radio 4 on whether or not buying British goods is beneficial. Recent decisions regarding buying Spanish train carriages and Chinese oil are discussed, and Sam ultimately argues that buying British goods just for the sake of it is actually not beneficial to British consumers, or the economy. Listen to the full debate here. (Starts 17:35)
Kate Andrews discusses the future of the NHS on BBC 5 Live
Head of Communications and research associate at the Adam Smith Institute, Kate Andrews, was on BBC 5 live discussing the future of the NHS and its funding.
If the NHS is really looking to have its funding directly affect patients and better patients health, they're not only going to need to learn to use that money more efficiently, but they might need to adopt some more sustainable systems.
Listen to the full interview here. (Starts 38:00)