Macroeconomics: UK economy, IB Economics

I'll just post this here and allow you to speculate at to whether this is an example of tax avoidance or not. Amazon's online retail business allegedly made £204m in profit last year, but refuses to operate a transparent policy in relation to the amount of corporation tax that it pays. 

An interesting footnote to the Chancellor's so-called Winter Plan, with the Resolution Foundation suggesting that the failure to extend the existing £20 supplement to tax credits and Universal Credit to the poorest will see them worse off.

Just remember, "We're All in This Together" will be trumpeted time and time again, but Torsten Bell, the head of the Resolution Foundation reckons that this would have been more true had the government scrapped the job retention bonus and spent this money supporting the most vulnerable.

Today's Observer editorial bemoans the absence of a coherent government response to the cost of living crisis. Instead, the solutions proposed - changing the law about MOTs, relaxing health and safety legislation in childcare - show ignorance about the extent of the crisis, and an unwillingness to tackle the underlying causes of the issue.

Given that the Office for Budgetary Responsibility forecasts a 2.2% decline in average household incomes, the paper proposes three areas to focus on: boosting productivity (how many times has this been suggested in the last 30+ years?); reversing real terms cuts in benefits and tax credits; tackling underlying structural problems. You might argue that the first and last of these suggestions should be the main aims of economic policymaking, irrespective of the circumstances.