Venezuela: Chavez Continues March, Relies on Nationalization

Following the inextricable match towards the socialist utopia, and the destruction of the Venezuelan economy, President Hugo Chavez announced the seizure of French-Colombian supermarket chain Exito, on the grounds that it had broken the law by raising prices…

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Brazil: How Independent Should the Central Bank Be?

A standoff between Argentina’s government and central bank has sharpened debate in neighboring Brazil over the need for Congress to pass a bill making the country’s central bank formally independent. While most developed nations struggle to ascertain the…

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Chile: The “Entrepreneurial President”

Sebastián Piñera, Chile’s president-elect, has promised to apply the entrepreneurial skill that made him a billionaire to reinvigorating the national economy. Mr. Piñera maintains that by cutting red tape, enhancing investment incentives and administering the public sector more…

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Malaysia: Broader Based Consumption Tax Proposed

Malaysia is poised to move from a general sales and services tax to a more broad based comprehensive Goods and Services Tax (“GST”).   The benefits of this sort of move is well documented in other countries, including…

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France: The Country Adam Smith Forgot!

France, a country still recovering from the massive “egg on face” tax policy debacle of creating a “carbon tax” that exempted 93% of the population, only to be struck down by the constitutional court, on the grounds that…

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New Zealand / Chile: NZ Tax Change Causes Cost to Increase for Chilean Operations

A delay in Greymouth moving forward with oil and gas production for over a year, and an intervening change in New Zealand tax law (as it relates to offsetting exploration costs in other countries against their New Zealand…

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Brazil: Opportunities for Distressed Transactions

Increased M&A activity has occurred in Brazil over the past few years for several reasons, including the effectiveness of the Federal Law # 11.101/2005, the Brazilian Judicial Recovery Act, which has an important role in restructuring companies in…

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Ireland: Easiest Courty to Pay Business Tax

According to The Paying Taxes 2010 report, which was compiled by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the World Bank and IFC, covering 183 countries and looking at all taxes paid by businesses, Ireland ranked as the easiest country in Europe to pay…

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Kazakhstan: New Foreign Investment Legislation

Professor M.K. Suleymenov’s Powerpoint type survey of the new Kazakhstan foreign investment legislation touches on the highlights of how the new regime differs from the prior, somewhat hostile, direct foreign investment environment in that country. New Kazakhstan Foreign…

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