Top all-time · #2052
Richard Murphy
Personal blog · taxresearch.org.uk/Blogeconomicspolitics
Richard Murphy writes Funding the Future, a personal blog at taxresearch.org.uk about economics and politics. Since 2010, 37 different Hacker News readers have linked it 58 times, most often “Profits are driving inflation. When will politicians and the BoE admit it?”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-11-01, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (24) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Richard Murphy's Tax Research UK blog for UK tax and economics commentary, including definitions of tax avoidance, wealth tax, corporate tax, and inflation and profits.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 24 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Richard Murphy on developing a fairer and sustainable economy
Most-linked posts?
- Profits are driving inflation. When will politicians and the BoE admit it?3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2023-06-23
- Starbucks, Google and Amazon: the tax crash of Monday afternoon2 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2012-11-13
What Hacker News says?
I think this is misreading the data. We are functionally in a recession. The only way this isn't true is because of AI investment [1]. Additionally, GDP itself is flawed because it is propped up by housing, specifically imputed rent [2]. Another ticking time bomb is the $4T private equity backlog [3]. The real product of AI of labor displacement and wage suppression. So while this article sees profits flat outside o…
Comment linking /Blog/2023/02/14/10-or-gdp-is-made-up-it-simply-does-not-exist-in-the-real-world/
on “No signs of AI payoff outside the tech sector”Submitted Why inflation is not a threat as a story · 172 points
HN discussionNot just in silicon valley by a long way. MG Rover: https://insolvencyandlaw.co.uk/why-didnt-insolvency-service-... BHS: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/mar/27/philip-gree... / https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/feb/28/philip-gree... Maplin: https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2018/02/28/40831/ (fundamentally in a capitalist society that recognises no moral restraint on money and it's not illegal ..…
Comment linking /Blog/2018/02/28/40831/
on “WeWork’s CEO Makes Millions as Landlord to WeWork”Submitted Starbucks, Google and Amazon: the tax crash of Monday afternoon as a story · 143 points
HN discussionhttps://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2021/10/17/why-we-need-a... >However, I include Worstall’s argument for a reason. It is true that some are more productive than others in an economy and it is true that this has always meant, and is likely now to mean, that those who are more productive do earn higher rewards than those who are less productive. In principle I have little argument with this idea: I have no difficul…
Comment linking /Blog/2021/10/17/why-we-need-action-to-tackle-wealth-inequality-2/
on “The wealthiest 10% of Americans own a record 89% of all U.S. stocks”Submitted People and jobs? Or wealth? The government has to decide which to prioritise as a story · 41 points
HN discussionA number of commentators have pointed out that the 7% deficit figure doesn't make an awful lot of sense as it ignores a lot of factors regarding the structure of the UK economy that wouldn't necessarily be in place for an independent Scotland - so comparing the GERS 7% figure with a 3% figure for an actual independent country in the EU isn't comparing like with like. Makes good headlines though. https://www.taxresea…
Comment linking /Blog/2019/08/21/whatever-gers-reports-today-its-important-to-remember-its-still-crap-or-a-completely-rubbish-approximation-to-the-truth/
on “Scotland to use 100% renewables on time to host 2020 climate summit”Submitted Profits are driving inflation. When will politicians and the BoE admit it? as a story · 17 points
HN discussionThe Financial Times speculated that Libra transactions - because they involve some currency risk - will incur capital gains taxes (CGT). Although the CGT absolute amounts are likely to be very small, and in some countries will be covered by a personal allowance, this will still cause tremendously fiddly problems when filing taxes. I'm afraid the link to the FT article is behind a paywall, but this blog post summaris…
Comment linking /Blog/2019/07/01/facebooks-libra-and-tax/
on “House lawmakers ask Facebook to put Libra cryptocurrency project on hold”Submitted The Chinese have worked it out: stablecoins are the privatisation of money as a story · 9 points
HN discussionI know it's so hard, even in the UK people get upset 'Why does this inner city youth club get X benefit' 'Why are we sending X troubled child to X holiday camp for the summer' 'Why doesn't my child get these things?' is often the question, but the answer that these things are put in place to try and reduce future potential crime and other societal damage are not things that a lot of people want to consider - I'm spe…
Comment linking /Documents/500000Final.pdf
on “The costly criminalisation of the mentally ill”Submitted When will the Trump bubble burst? as a story · 9 points
HN discussionIANAL, but as far as I understand a company director only has a 'duty to promote the success of the company' in the UK [1]. I think it is similar in the US. 'Success of the company' doesn't strictly have to mean making a profit, if the shareholders don't want it to. [1] http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2013/01/07/companies-do-n...
Comment linking /Blog/2013/01/07/companies-do-not-have-a-legal-duty-to-maximise-profit-or-to-avoid-tax/
on “Embrace the desire to make money”Submitted Elon Musk Is Wrong as a story · 8 points
HN discussionA good resource on this is UK campaigner Richard Murphy - http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/ The basics are it is foolish to try and introduce a wealth tax - ie Bezos is worth 400Bn so we want 40bn now please. It becomes impossible to actually say how much a person owns - it fluctuates, even if they are co-operating fully it’s a fools game. Yet tax rates are different for different categories - equalise those, and…
Comment linking /Blog/
on “Up to a Quarter of Rental Inflation Is Due to Price-Fixing”Submitted Thiel and the Antichrist as a story · 6 points
HN discussionPublicly traded companies (kinda) have to do what their shareholders want them to, but that doesn't have to be maximizing returns (still less maximizing returns in the short term ). Here's some comment on this with quotations from actual law, but note that (1) it's from the UK rather than the US and presumably the relevant laws aren't quite the same, and (2) the author's position is further to the left than is custo…
Comment linking /Blog/2011/10/24/companies-do-not-have-a-duty-to-maximise-their-profits-or-to-avoid-tax/
on “Laid-back and Passionate”Submitted Who is going to trust the USA again? as a story · 5 points
HN discussionI think what might (or at least should) tip them over the edge here is that they added on fees for these imaginary law firms to their customers' bills. NAL, but sounds like plain, old fashioned fraud to me. Edit: I see I'm not the only one thinking this: http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2014/06/25/wonga-committe...
Comment linking /Blog/2014/06/25/wonga-committed-a-fraud-why-are-they-being-allowed-to-continue-in-business/
on “Wonga chased debt with fake lawyers, says FCA”Submitted When will the US economy crash? as a story · 5 points
HN discussion>If that’s your personal ideology then fuck old people benefits No idea what you are getting at here. >Saying think of the children The health and wellbeing of children is important. It is not wrong or irrational to think about it. On the contrary, it is irrational to make supposed 'savings' by neglecting the very people who will be the engine of the future economy. >UK’s debt to GDP ratio was under 30 in 2000, and…
Comment linking /Blog/2021/06/24/the-tories-have-always-borrowed-more-than-labour-and-always-repaid-less-they-are-the-party-of-big-deficit-spending/
on “Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber (2018)”Submitted Does Trump think he's God? as a story · 4 points
HN discussionTax evasion. http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2012/11/13/starbucks-goog...
Comment linking /Blog/2012/11/13/starbucks-google-and-amazon-the-tax-crash-of-monday-afternoon/
on “Dropbox is going brogue”Submitted The Sham of Shareholder Capitalism as a story · 3 points
HN discussionstarbucks too. http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2012/11/13/starbucks-goog...
Comment linking /Blog/2012/11/13/starbucks-google-and-amazon-the-tax-crash-of-monday-afternoon/
on “Dropbox is going brogue”Submitted For MMT (Long and Wonkish) as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSo basically, dropbox makes a public announcement to tell the world (and the shareholders) they're now engaging in tax evasion in Europe to make better profit. Hopefully they'll have a better story for the european authorities later on, not like starbucks, amazon or google: http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2012/11/13/starbucks-goog...
Comment linking /Blog/2012/11/13/starbucks-google-and-amazon-the-tax-crash-of-monday-afternoon/
on “Dropbox is going brogue”Submitted Fisking Martin Wolf on modern monetary theory as a story · 3 points
HN discussionThe Economist is a neoliberal dish rag. There is a completely made up number that is an increasingly large portion of GDP in OECD nations and that number is imputed rent [1]. This is a fictional number that owner-occupiers "pay" themselves to live in their own houses. So as housing prices go up, so does imputed rent. House prices have increasingly become the best vehicle for investment funds because the returns are…
Comment linking /Blog/2023/02/14/10-or-gdp-is-made-up-it-simply-does-not-exist-in-the-real-world/
on “British Steel taken into public ownership to protect 'vital' UK supply”Submitted On the brink of disaster as a story · 2 points
HN discussion
