British retail sales rose at their fastest pace in two years in November and retailers expect a further rise next month, according to a survey on Thursday that will boost hopes of a strong Christmas shopping period.

The U.S. will need to eventually enact national value added tax in order to raise revenue and decrease its deficit, Paul Donovan, MD & deputy head of global economics at UBS, said Thursday.

Banks must disclose how much they pay top employees, a UK government sponsored report recommended on Thursday in a bid to quell public anger over "bonuses as usual" in a sector shored up by taxpayer bailouts.

Malaysia plans to impose a goods and services tax, likely from 2012, in a bold but potentially unpopular move to boost revenues as it faces its largest budget deficit in more than 20 years

Welcome to the jobless recovery. Unemployment claims have hit states so hard that they are raising taxes on businesses at a time when employers can least afford it.

Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers paid their executives largely in stock, and that stock lost most or all of its value when those companies collapsed. But three professors at Harvard - citing a study - dispute that executives at Bear and Lehman were wiped out along with their companies. The New York Times reports.

The ultralow interest rates the U.S. has been paying on its colossal debt may not last much longer, and the White House estimates that the tab will exceed $700 billion a year in 2019, the New York Times reported.

Now that unemployment has topped 10 percent, some liberal-leaning economists see confirmation of their warnings that the $787 billion stimulus package President Obama signed into law last February was way too small. The economy needs a second big infusion, they say.

As the biggest U.S. banks clamor to defeat Congressional measures that could break up their firms or slap a big tax on their transactions, another costly proposal is quietly gaining steam.

Additional economic stimulus such as a payroll tax cut would boost hiring, Mike Jackson, the CEO of AutoNation, told CNBC on Thursday.

Proposed taxes on financial transactions face an uphill battle in the United States with powerful interests opposed and a lack of support among some key U.S. lawmakers.

Nicolas Cage is being sued by his former business manager, who claims lavish spending, not his advice, is to blame for the actor's financial problems.

Some 14,700 rich Americans worried about a U.S. government crackdown on offshore tax cheats came forward to participate in a tax amnesty program, the top U.S. tax official said on Tuesday.

More than 15 million taxpayers could unexpectedly owe taxes when they file their federal returns next spring because the government was too generous with their new Making Work Pay tax credit.

The percentage of homes bought in the United States by first-time buyer will rise significantly this year, helped by a popular $8,000 tax credit, the National Association of Realtors predicted Friday.