Franking Machine

Taking to the water to beat the housing market slump

The dollar loses some ground against the euro, a day after hitting a six-month high against the single currency.

More than one in 10 British workers fear they will lose their job in the next year because of the economy, the TUC says.

Ringing the changes - BT puts phone boxes out for 'adoption'

President Sarkozy will face accusations that he is turning his fiscal policy on its head today when he announces an increase in tax on investment revenue to finance a back-to-work programme. The 1 per cent rise on share, property rental and other investment income is designed to help to pay for the French President’s promise to end the so-called welfare trap, in which it can be unprofitable for jobless people to return to employment. The tax will be wide-ranging and could affect thousands of Britons who let their properties in France in the holiday season. Critics argue that the move signals the death of Mr Sarkozy’s tax-cutting crusade as he struggles to implement Blairite electoral pledges while trying to limit the €50 billion (£40 billion) French budget deficit. The tax increase, which officials hope will generate about €1.5 billion a year, will bring the total tax rate on investment revenue to 30 per cent. Opponents say that it flies in the face of Mr Sarkozy’s attempts to encourage wealth creation and to tempt back French tax exiles from Britain, Switzerland, Belgium and elsewhere. Alain Lambert, a prominent senator and a member of Mr Sarkozy’s centre-right coalition, said: “I’m going to need a few minutes to understand why we’re raising tax on investment revenue when we brought down inheritance tax a year ago.” Mr Lambert said that it would have been better to finance the back-to-work benefit through cuts in welfare spending. Dominique Paillé, spokesman for Mr Sarkozy’s Union for a Popular Movement, said, however, that the new benefit “is a good means for those in difficulty and in a precarious situation to find stable and lasting work again and, therefore, it deserves solidarity from everyone”. The Revenue de Solidarité Active is designed to ensure that the income of welfare claimants rises when they find employment. At present some people are better off on benefits than in a low-paid job – a disincentive to get off the dole, many economists say. Under the new scheme, claimants will be able to keep benefits equivalent to 60 per cent of their salary after they start work. An average couple on low wages with one child would be €224 a month better off. Mr Sarkozy’s scheme is likely to apply to up to four million people and cost about €8.5 billion a year. The Government will find €7 billion a year by abolishing some existing benefits. The French economy contracted by 0.3 per cent in the second quarter and jobless levels are expected to rise from 1.9 million over the next 12 months.

Japan's powerful yakuza organised crime syndicates are mounting a widespread assault on the country's financial markets that may have left hundreds of listed companies riddled with mob connections.

BAA has been appointed as a security adviser to the organisers of the 2012 Olympic Games in a move that has been ridiculed by airlines, which have criticised the airports operator for long queues and poor service.

Britain's economy is set to shrink over the next year as a deepening recession inflicts the first full-year fall in national income since 1991, a leading forecasting group predicts today.

Real estate is not the only industry in Florida to be suffering from an economic blight. While the Sunshine State ranks as one of the foreclosure capitals of America, its huge citrus fruit industry is fighting a disease that threatens to devastate the orange business within a decade.

Daniel Mudd, chief executive of Fannie Mae, was told last night that he still has the confidence of the rest of the board, as the chairman of the US mortgage giant ousted his finance director and his head of risk.