Gideon Rachman has an article on this topic in today’s FT, available here.
Year: 2010
The government is still keen on introducing water meters and water charges, as reported in the Irish Times. I agree in principle, but not in detail. I’m glad that the government seems to have abandoned a poll tax. The current announcement, however, foresees a bilinear tax: The first N cubic metres of water are free, the rest is paid for.
Bilinear taxes are rarely optimal. In this case, a substantial share of water is untaxed so that there is no incentive to preserve water below the free allowance.
Much better, therefore, to charge for all water use — and rather than give people a benefit in kind (free water), give those on benefits a “water allowance” and those on wages a “water tax credit”.
This article in today’s FT offers yet another adjustment option: you can read it here.
In light of recent discussions on this blog about Irish universities and their role in the wider economy, this article in the Sunday Business Post by Trinity’s Charles Larkin and Brian Lucey raises a lot of important issues.
I’ve been reluctant to write anything about the DCC\Fyffes\Flavin case (see here and here) despite my suspicion that it represented a very unfortunate precedent in an age in which corporate malfeasance in our leading businesses is a major issue in Irish public life. This is because I can’t claim to have read the 700 page Shipsey report and have a very limited understanding the complex legal issues involved. However, I think that Matt Cooper has done the public an important service in raising the potential implications of the case in this article and I’d be interested in hearing the opinion of some of our more legally-minded commenters as to whether Cooper’s concerns are well-founded.
Shipsey found that Flavin had done no wrong because he had taken legal advice prior to the relevant share dealings. Paul Abbleby of the Office of Director of Corporate Enforcement then concluded “There’s no way that any court would sanction a director for having followed the company’s legal advice.”
Cooper asks “So the question arises: has Shipsey set a precedent that legal advice trumps the law?” and points out how any future businessman wishing to do something illegal now only has to find a lawyer to tell him that what he wants to do is ok.
In relation to the banking crisis, Cooper points out that the defence that people believed they were behaving legally can now come to the aid of those who clearly behaved in an illegal fashion and that a public banking inquiry is likely to be our only chance to see certain individuals called to account for their actions.
As I say, I’m not a legal expert, so I’d like to hear whether those in the know think Cooper has this wrong.