• Reference: 2011/1171
• Question by: Len Duvall OBE
• Meeting date: 23 March 2011

On 7 March, the Evening Standard ran an interview with Paul Marshall, 'hedge fund star' and co-founder of schools charity 'ARK'. Mr Marshall told David Cohen that 'There are 32,000 people in Britain with over £20million of assets and 17% of them actually give'. Does this expose your desire to see the wealthy "show more commitment to this city through greater philanthropy"(555/2011) as little more than a fantasy?

• Reference: 2011/1170
• Question by: Len Duvall OBE
• Meeting date: 23 March 2011

On 7 March, the Evening Standard ran an interview with Paul Marshall, 'hedge fund star' and co-founder of schools charity 'ARK'. Mr Marshall told David Cohen that 'the best way for the rich to give is to allow them a strategic involvement for their money'. Given that you recently told me (552/2011) that you are "championing" a "stronger culture of philanthropy", do you share Mr Marshall's view on allowing the wealthy "strategic involvement for their money"?

• Reference: 2011/1169
• Question by: Len Duvall OBE
• Meeting date: 23 March 2011

What percentage of their income would the top 1% of London's earners need to donate good causes to equalise the amount they avoid paying in tax?

• Reference: 2011/1168
• Question by: Len Duvall OBE
• Meeting date: 23 March 2011

In answer to Question No: 552/2011, you wrote that 'there is a philosophical difference between establishing a stronger culture of philanthropy, which I am championing, and an excessively taxed society, which I do not'. Why have you been so vocal in your defence of those affected by progressive taxation and such a poor advocate of those most affected by significant recent increases in regressive taxation?

• Reference: 2011/1167
• Question by: Len Duvall OBE
• Meeting date: 23 March 2011

An 18 January Evening Standard article entitled 'The City's Still Hiring' stated that '44 per cent of CFOs in the financial sector that we surveyed are planning to add staff ... The main reasons for this hiring were to deal with business expansion'. If your concerns about the impact of the banking levy and 50p tax rate on earnings over £150,000 were valid, why would so many financial services institutions be hiring staff and preparing for growth?

• Reference: 2011/1166
• Question by: Len Duvall OBE
• Meeting date: 23 March 2011

An 18 January Evening Standard article entitled 'The City's Still Hiring' stated that, far from hemorrhaging jobs as you have predicted, financial service 'vacancies were up 18 per cent year on year in December' 2010, adding that 'the City is still building teams and positioning itself for growth'. If this is correct, your predictions of a 'mass exodus' by financial services have proven incorrect. Why do you keep 'getting it wrong' on this issue?

• Reference: 2011/1165
• Question by: Len Duvall OBE
• Meeting date: 23 March 2011

An 18 January Evening Standard article entitled 'The City's Still Hiring' stated that 'fears that the bonus row, banker bashing and economic uncertainty would force financial firms to rein in recruitment have proven unfounded'. In what way do you disagree with this statement?

• Reference: 2011/1164
• Question by: Len Duvall OBE
• Meeting date: 23 March 2011

Despite your regularly expressed concerns about the UK's tax competitiveness, a 2010 PricewaterhouseCoopers study found that 'a married banker with two children, one of them aged under six, with gross income of £250,000 and a mortgage of £750,000, would net £141,000 in the UK, after deductions for tax and social security...in Geneva, that same employee would take home about £156,000, 11 per cent more'. The report went on to add that 'the gap with other European financial centres and the US is significantly smaller ... the same worker would net £150,000 in Paris, £149,000 in Frankfurt and £145,000 in New...

• Reference: 2011/1163
• Question by: Len Duvall OBE
• Meeting date: 23 March 2011

In answer to Question No: 546/2011 you stated that 'we know that the top rate of personal tax is internationally uncompetitive and it is my job to state this clearly to the Government'. Whilst it is correct that the UK's top rate of tax is higher than Germany, France, the US, and Switzerland, London's dominance of financial services is contingent upon considerably more factors than top rates of tax. In addition to its language, time zone, and social and cultural factors, London also competes favourably in terms of its nearest European competitors on corporation tax, which is levied at 33.2%...

• Reference: 2011/1162
• Question by: Len Duvall OBE
• Meeting date: 23 March 2011

In answer to Question No: 541/2011 you stated that 'TIF would probably be on-balance sheet'. Are there any other examples of on-balance sheet TIF and, if so, how do they work?