MARK OF THE BEAST

UK businesses planning to implant microchips in staff

British companies are planning to microchip their employees in order to boost security and stop staff from accessing sensitive areas of the business.
Biohax, a Swedish tech firm, has diclosed it is in talks with a number of UK legal and financial services firms to implant workers with human chip devices. One prospective client, which the company said could not be named, is believed to be a major global auditing firm with "hundreds of thousands of employees".
The chips, about the size of a grain of rice, cost £150 each and are similar to those used for pets. As well as restricting access to controlled areas, microchips could be used to buy food from the canteen, enter the building or access printers.

CASHLESSNESS

My 'precious': A month with the Bankwest halo payment ring

Letting your bank literally get under your skin will take some getting used to by the public, so for now we are being offered wearable options.
Bankwest was the first in Australia to offer the ring to customers when it launched at the beginning of the year, but Mastercard Australasia president Richard Wormald said several other banks, including some of the big four, were looking at it as well.
While right now it's a gimmick, it, or something like it, will soon become the norm.
"I've been wearing my ring long enough I'm beginning to feel a deep connection to it. The ring loves me and I love the ring. I swear to serve the master of the precious," says Hamish Hastie.

CASHLESSNESS

Again, let's focus on coffee shops and nail salons and forget about the corporate giants who pay almost no tax by offshoring profits and by other means.

Businesses are operating as cash-only to avoid paying tax

According to research by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), two-thirds of consumers believe cash-only small businesses are profiting from getting away with paying less tax.
An ATO blitz last year forced seven out of 10 cash-only businesses to increase the amount of tax paid, totalling $200 million in tax and penalties.
About 20 per cent of cash-only businesses say providing card payments is too expensive.
Leading GST and tax expert Ken Fehily, who also advises the ATO and Treasury, said Australians had good reason to be suspicious of cash-only businesses.
He said small business’ avoidance of tax is “exceptionally widespread”.
The Black Economy Taskforce (an initiative of the federal Treasury) estimates the ‘black economy’ to be worth as much as $50 billion, more than twice what the Australian Bureau of Statistics estimated in late 2016.
Mr Worthington said many businesses only accept cash, with some classic examples including massage parlours, nail salons and tattoo studios.
“If it’s only accepting cash, you’ve got to question the validity of that business and whether they’re paying tax,” he said.
“They could be avoiding paying their GST tax, or avoid paying tax altogether, full stop.
“There is no legitimate reason other than to selfishly allow themselves to earn more money.”

MEANWHILE …

Mossack Fonseca: inside the firm that helps the super-rich hide their money

Since 2008, and the global financial crisis, cash-strapped exchequers [treasurers/finance ministers] had been trying to get their hands on billions in potential tax revenue hidden offshore.
How serious these attempts were was a matter for debate.
What wasn’t in doubt were the vast sums involved. According to the US economist Gabriel Zucman, 8% of the world’s wealth – a vast $7.6 trillion – was stashed in tax havens.

CASHLESSNESS

$100 note should be dumped to starve black economy

Australia's shadow assistant treasurer Andrew Leigh said many $100 banknotes were being used by criminals and that Australia should consider ditching the "kermit" all together.
University of New South Wales economist Richard Holden agreed.
"They're a vehicle for tax evasion and they're a vehicle for illegal activities," he said. "One of the main reasons people hold $100 bills is to hide them from tax authorities."
He said doing away with the predominantly green $100 note would help the Government to start to refill its depleted coffers.
"Some very credible estimates said if you got rid of all cash in Australia you would boost tax revenues by about $6 billion a year or more," he said. "So if you got rid of the $100 bill you might boost revenues by half of that."

IDENTITY THEFT

Alarm as biometric data added to government database

Experts are warning people that they now risk losing control of their biometric identity entirely as commercial interests, governments and organised crime gangs all move to capture more personal metadata for their own gain.
Biometric data may already be vulnerable to misuse by criminals and terrorists, as the proliferation of mobile cameras combined with social media and ubiquitous CCTV feeds mean we're caught on screen more than ever before.
Technology and legal expert Professor Katina Michael said one of the biggest risks of the collection of biometric data was not deliberate misuse by government agencies, but rather vulnerabilities in the way biometrics work.