Louisiana is giving away an average of $1.6 billion annually in tax breaks to large manufacturers with little oversight and little return, according to a new study released Monday. Together Louisiana, a statewide association of clergy and public interest groups that favors higher taxes on big corporations and the wealthy, reports Louisiana has the most generous industrial tax exemption in the country, allowing companies to avoid paying their property taxes to local schools, sheriffs and fire departments for 10...

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Changes to ISF Enforcement On June 17, 2016, Customs announced that for shipments that are on the water on or before June 30, 2016, CBP ports will no longer be required to send requests for liquidated damages claims to Headquarters for review, and the “three-strikes” approach to liquidated damages claims against importers’ bonds will also end.  There is no change to cargo holds for ISF non-compliance.  Ports have the authority to both hold cargo and initiate liquidated damages claims. We would...

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Jeroen Bakhuizen, Regional Head of International Subsidiary Banking, Europe shares his views on investment trends and how HSBC can support companies’ growth plans in the region. Businesses today are operating in a relatively uncertain global environment with slowing growth the norm for a lot of countries and even markets like China not achieving the amazing growth levels we became accustomed to. Yet, despite the global growth slowdown, foreign direct investment into Europe hit a new record high in 2014, with US$305bn...

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On June 16, 2016, new Rules issued by the New York City Department of Finance (the Department) regarding the correction of errors concerning the assessment of real property taxes go into effect. Title 19 of the Rules of the City of New York was amended to add a new Chapter 53 authorizing the Commissioner of the Department of Finance to correct certain errors in any assessment or tax and to provide a procedure to apply for the correction. The statutory basis for...

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Pak Rat Mini Storage owner B.F. "Dutch" van Rijn was running out of units to rent at his North Bonneville, Washington, facility. He bought an adjacent parcel of land and was considering building more permanent units. Dutch analyzed his options, however, and decided to purchase BOS Quick Build containers from BOS Container USA, award-winning producer of portable steel storage containers. “I was impressed by the quality of the units,” says Dutch, who had done his due diligence by travelling to...

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As we approach the U.K.'s EU referendum on June 23, Bannockburn Global Forex, LLC has put together their thoughts on potential outcomes for a remain or leave vote below.  At the time of this writing the spot rate for the Gbp/Usd is 1.4250 and Eur/Gbp .7935. As evidenced with the June 13 Gbp/Usd trading range of 1.4116 – 1.4321 (being a 1.5% range), we expect the daily volatility for any Gbp related currency pair to remain elevated as we approach June 23....

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Institute of International Education receives national recognition for emergency support for students and scholars. The Institute of International Education received the GoAbroad Foundation's Innovation in Philanthropy award for the IIE Emergency Student Fund and Scholar Rescue Fund during the NAFSA Annual Conference in Denver, Colorado. IIE most recently awarded 91 emergency grants to Syrian and Yemeni students on U.S. college and university campuses facing urgent financial need due to on-going crises in their home countries, and since its inception in...

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The reforms generally encourage foreign investment in U.S. real estate. The enacted Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015 (the Act) contains numerous reforms to the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act of 1980 (FIRPTA) and the taxation of real estate investment trusts (REITs). Highlights of these changes are discussed below. FIRPTA Reforms Foreign Pension Fund Exemption The Act exempts "qualified foreign pension funds" from FIRPTA taxation so long as such a fund is not already engaged in a business in...

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Essilor announced today that it was ranked N(o). 5 in the 2016 Newsweek Green Rankings, created in partnership with Corporate Knights and HIP Investor. Since 2009, the Newsweek Green Rankings have been one of the world's foremost corporate environmental rankings which assess the overall environmental performance of the 500 largest publicly traded companies in the United States and the 500 largest publicly traded companies globally. With 61,000 employees in 63 countries, nearly 540 production sites on five continents and more...

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Essilor UK is reaching out to local schools to help prepare pupils for employment while screening their eyes and raising awareness of the importance of healthy vision. This month, Essilor UK began an educational campaign with neighboring schools to its Thornbury site near Bristol. Volunteers from the company screened students to raise awareness of the importance of regular eye care and at the same time helped the students learn how to design and build telescopes. Hundreds of children were screened along with...

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