:00:00. > :00:09.This is Business Live from BBC News with Ben Thompson and Sally Bundock.
:00:10. > :00:14.President Trump promises to reform America's tax code -
:00:15. > :00:17.but will it be enough to stop US firms stashing cash overseas?
:00:18. > :00:39.Live from London, that's our top story on Thursday 31st August.
:00:40. > :00:45.Top US companies are keeping $2.5 trillion in profits abroad,
:00:46. > :00:47.so can President Trump persuade them to bring it back to
:00:48. > :00:52.Also in the programme, India's illegal cash crackdown fails -
:00:53. > :01:05.we're live in Mumbai to find out why.
:01:06. > :01:09.And a better-than-expected growth figures in the United States and
:01:10. > :01:13.better manufacturing figures in China have boosted growth markets.
:01:14. > :01:16.You may have heard of Fin Tech but have you heard of Phil Tech?
:01:17. > :01:20.We're going to get the inside track on how the boss of PlayMob using
:01:21. > :01:24.And as airport currency rates hit a new low in the UK,
:01:25. > :01:26.We want to know where do you buy your currency
:01:27. > :01:51.And if anyone tells us they buy their holiday cash at the airport,
:01:52. > :01:54.you are banned from the programme! We start today in the US
:01:55. > :01:57.in Missouri, where President Trump will lay out the details
:01:58. > :01:59.of his planned tax reforms. He described the current tax rules
:02:00. > :02:01.as "self-destructive" - they haven't been reformed
:02:02. > :02:03.for 30 years. He's calling for a more competitive
:02:04. > :02:06.system to boost jobs and wages, repeating his promise to cut
:02:07. > :02:07.America's corporate On paper, the US corporation tax
:02:08. > :02:14.rate is one of the highest But if you take into account
:02:15. > :02:20.various tax breaks, many top US firms pay a bit less -
:02:21. > :02:25.on average, 28.6%. That's still much
:02:26. > :02:28.higher than the 25% rate in China, 19% in the UK and just
:02:29. > :02:33.12.5% in Ireland. That's why many top US
:02:34. > :02:36.firms have their overseas And that's meant a staggering
:02:37. > :02:42.$2.5 trillion worth of profits are channelled overseas by top US
:02:43. > :02:44.companies to avoid And with the US national debt
:02:45. > :02:51.spiralling towards $20 trillion, would cutting taxes boost
:02:52. > :02:53.the economy and tempt US firms Or would it just do more damage
:02:54. > :03:04.to the government's finances? Speaking on Wednesday, the US
:03:05. > :03:07.President explained why he believes Our self-destructive tax code
:03:08. > :03:12.cost Americans millions and millions of jobs,
:03:13. > :03:17.trillions of dollars and billions of hours spent
:03:18. > :03:22.on compliance and paperwork. And some countries have
:03:23. > :03:24.an unbelievably low tax, China and some others that
:03:25. > :03:30.are highly competitive and They are taking us,
:03:31. > :03:41.frankly, to the cleaners. John Weeks is the Professor Emeritus
:03:42. > :03:51.of Economics at SOAS He's here to give us his take on
:03:52. > :03:56.this story, and were as we just heard, President Trump with his
:03:57. > :04:02.ideas, his promises, but when will we see a concrete change, do you
:04:03. > :04:09.think? I think the first point to make, as a famous US jury said,
:04:10. > :04:13.taxes are the price we pay for civilisation, and the most liveable
:04:14. > :04:18.countries are the ones with a high taxes, Denmark, Sweden, so on. The
:04:19. > :04:23.USA has very low taxes, people can draw their own conclusion from that.
:04:24. > :04:28.The second point is that tax cuts for the middle-class will have a
:04:29. > :04:31.trivial impact on their incomes. The problem with the class incomes is
:04:32. > :04:36.their slow growth, the amount that tax would be cut would have very
:04:37. > :04:44.little impact. And third, cutting the corporate income tax, the main
:04:45. > :04:50.consequence of that would be to redistribute income to shareholders.
:04:51. > :04:57.Ronald Reagan tried the same thing almost 40 years ago, and it did not
:04:58. > :05:00.reduce overseas remittances, and this word, either. So you have
:05:01. > :05:08.explained some of the reasons why the change in the tax code would not
:05:09. > :05:11.benefit the US economy, so the issue of any traction on Capitol Hill for
:05:12. > :05:18.President Trump trying to put through change? I think that
:05:19. > :05:26.President Trump is an unusual president in that he has a a lot of
:05:27. > :05:29.support in Congress who may agree with him in ideological, but they
:05:30. > :05:35.don't like him personally, famous cases such as Senator John McCain.
:05:36. > :05:38.So I think it is quite possible some bill will go through, but it will
:05:39. > :05:44.not be the builder Tron proposes, it will be one that is drawn up
:05:45. > :05:48.probably in the Senate in with the leaders of the house. This isn't
:05:49. > :05:54.unique to the United States, the debate about cutting taxes to boost
:05:55. > :05:58.growth and vice versa. There is some truth in cutting taxes many more
:05:59. > :06:02.money flows into Government cough is because business is more productive.
:06:03. > :06:10.They might not bring back a lot from abroad, but they create jobs and
:06:11. > :06:14.wealth if taxes are lower. That is a variation of the argument that has
:06:15. > :06:19.lower taxes mean more tax revenue, but the terrible evidence that is
:06:20. > :06:26.very weak. Also the miracle evidence that cutting taxes stimulates growth
:06:27. > :06:33.is quite weak. So it is possible, but it is likely that we won't get a
:06:34. > :06:37.systemic demonstration of that. Ten or 15 years ago, you wouldn't have
:06:38. > :06:42.had the Congressional budget office do a study on the likely impact, and
:06:43. > :06:46.I have not seen such a study, and I don't believe that the office has
:06:47. > :06:51.been invited to do that. We will keep a close I on that. Thank you
:06:52. > :06:58.for your time today. President Trump has just kicked off his tour with
:06:59. > :07:03.tax reform top of the agenda, so we will keep track on how it goes.
:07:04. > :07:07.Let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news.
:07:08. > :07:14.The French government is due to reform labour laws later today. The
:07:15. > :07:19.measures will be a big test for President in manual macron who is
:07:20. > :07:23.facing protests next month, although one of the biggest unions has
:07:24. > :07:26.decided it will not take part. The new boss of Uber,
:07:27. > :07:28.Dara Khosrowshahi, has told staff he will change the company's culture
:07:29. > :07:31.and may take it public The taxi hailing app is trying
:07:32. > :07:37.to recover from a string of crises that saw chief executive
:07:38. > :07:39.and co-founder Travis Mr Khosrowshahi is the former boss
:07:40. > :07:50.of online travel company Expedia. I got his name right the second time
:07:51. > :07:54.around! The troubled Japanese giant Toshiba
:07:55. > :07:56.has missed a self-imposed deadline of signing a deal
:07:57. > :07:59.to sell its memory chip unit. The company's board has been meeting
:08:00. > :08:01.to review a $17bn offer from Western Digital and a revised
:08:02. > :08:04.last-minute offer of $18bn from Bain Capital -
:08:05. > :08:06.which brough in Apple to help Activity in China's factories
:08:07. > :08:12.sped up in August - suggesting the world's
:08:13. > :08:14.second-largest economy may still be The Purchasing Manager's Index
:08:15. > :08:21.unexpectedly rose to 51.7 - when economists had predicted
:08:22. > :08:39.a marginal decline. I am just not going to try and say
:08:40. > :08:44.it. We just have to practice it over and over. I have a feeling we will
:08:45. > :08:47.say the name a lot, the new boss of Uber there. Now, let's talk about
:08:48. > :08:49.India. Was India's crackdown
:08:50. > :08:55.on the black market a failure? The central bank says 99% of banned
:08:56. > :09:12.500 and 1000 rupee notes Explain this for us. Why did they
:09:13. > :09:17.ban certain banknotes, and now it seems they are all back in
:09:18. > :09:21.circulation anyway? In November last year, this was a surprise decision
:09:22. > :09:27.by the Indian Government, where they decided to ban 86% of the currency,
:09:28. > :09:30.all high-value currency notes to be banned overnight, and the reason for
:09:31. > :09:36.that was they wanted to crack down on black money, money for which a
:09:37. > :09:41.taxes not been paid. They wanted to crack down on tax evaders and
:09:42. > :09:48.corruption. Internal estimates were that about $60 billion will not come
:09:49. > :09:51.back to the system, and this will be regarded as black money which was
:09:52. > :09:57.floating in the system. But now the central bank has come back and said,
:09:58. > :10:01.actually 99% of those notes of comeback, and that means that
:10:02. > :10:12.analysts are saying the policy was a failure, because if 99% of the notes
:10:13. > :10:18.are back, only $3 billion were recouped, and that is not worth it
:10:19. > :10:21.for the problems it caused. That is an interesting story on why
:10:22. > :10:31.sometimes that just doesn't work. Let me show you the numbers.
:10:32. > :10:33.Shares in Tokyo ending up after the better-than-expected
:10:34. > :10:37.growth figures in the US gave a boost to confidence.
:10:38. > :10:39.In Europe, the talk is still of the strength
:10:40. > :10:54.The debate about what central banks might do. Can the Bank of England
:10:55. > :10:58.afford a weak pound? We will talk about that more in the moment, but
:10:59. > :11:01.first let's head to the United States and Michelle Fleury.
:11:02. > :11:04.Wall Street will continue to play close attention to the devastating
:11:05. > :11:07.In a show of support, the New York Stock Exchange
:11:08. > :11:13.investors can chew over pending home sales data for July.
:11:14. > :11:16.The index focuses on houses where a contract has been signed,
:11:17. > :11:24.from the country's worst housing collapse has been uneven.
:11:25. > :11:29.Forecasters see pending sales rising again, 0.4% in July.
:11:30. > :11:31.But that doesn't appear to have helped sales
:11:32. > :11:33.of existing homes in July, which fell sharply for
:11:34. > :11:38.Large declines in the north-east and midwest outweighed sales
:11:39. > :11:46.the Federal Reserve's preferred method of inflation -
:11:47. > :11:48.is expected to be positive after second quarter growth
:11:49. > :11:58.was revised up to 3% for the first time since early 2015.
:11:59. > :12:05.Joining us is Jane Sydenham from Rathbone Investment Management.
:12:06. > :12:10.Interesting, because Michelle touching on the upwards revision of
:12:11. > :12:14.GDP in the States, and she is looking ahead to the numbers we are
:12:15. > :12:18.going to get later today. It is all looking good for the US, and we
:12:19. > :12:21.mentioned China numbers better-than-expected as well. It is
:12:22. > :12:26.all looking better. We all got worried in the first quarter of the
:12:27. > :12:30.year, there was a slowdown in the US and indications of that elsewhere,
:12:31. > :12:34.but it looks as though the momentum is picking up again. The consumer
:12:35. > :12:40.still seems to be spending money, which is key. The revision was
:12:41. > :12:44.related to that. And given that 70% of the US economy, that is
:12:45. > :12:50.important. And that may be why factories in China in August had a
:12:51. > :12:55.better month? Absolutely. Let's talk about currency quickly. This
:12:56. > :12:59.sterling- euro parity creeping closer. This is twofold, the weak
:13:00. > :13:02.pound and the strong euro, and there was hope that we might hear
:13:03. > :13:06.something from the European Central Bank about whether they can afford a
:13:07. > :13:10.strong euro in the longer term, but central banks don't tend to get
:13:11. > :13:14.involved in the early stages. If it is a persistent problem, they might.
:13:15. > :13:19.They don't, and what we have to bear in mind is Europe has had such a
:13:20. > :13:22.difficult time in terms of growth, finally we are starting to see some
:13:23. > :13:27.positive growth, so the last thing the central bank wants to do is to
:13:28. > :13:30.try to intervene when we are finally beginning to see some positive
:13:31. > :13:37.signs. At this point in time I doubt it will be a priority. Thank you for
:13:38. > :13:40.now. I wanted to ask more about the markets, but we are being good
:13:41. > :13:43.because there is so much more to fit in this programme, including:
:13:44. > :13:46.We meet the tech entrepreneur putting her love of
:13:47. > :13:48.computer games to good use - for charity.
:13:49. > :14:05.You're with Business Live from BBC News.
:14:06. > :14:17.UK betting firm 888 has been accused of failing to block access from
:14:18. > :14:21.customers who self excluded, and find ?7.8 million. Sean Farrington
:14:22. > :14:28.is joining us now from Salford with more information. Tell us more about
:14:29. > :14:35.what is finest specifically for. It is about this self exclusion. If you
:14:36. > :14:38.were gambling online, 888 is a lot roulette, poker, bingo, and if you
:14:39. > :14:42.thought you don't want to be able to access your account for whatever
:14:43. > :14:45.reason, you can tick a box somewhere, let them know, please
:14:46. > :14:50.freeze my account, don't let me access it, and that will help you
:14:51. > :14:54.out. But 7000 customers over a period of year said they wanted to
:14:55. > :15:00.be self excluded but were still able to access their accounts, so the
:15:01. > :15:05.Commission has effectively find 888 nearly ?8 million for this, saying
:15:06. > :15:10.not only did they have the technical hitch that allowed it to happen, but
:15:11. > :15:14.they didn't pick it up which meant ?3.5 million was deposited by those
:15:15. > :15:19.customers, and gambled over and over to an amount of ?50 million that
:15:20. > :15:27.year. It is a strange trend, because we talked yesterday about credit
:15:28. > :15:31.card companies raising limits for people, and it is vulnerable
:15:32. > :15:35.customers most likely to see that access granted to them when they
:15:36. > :15:38.have said they do want it. The various authorities have been
:15:39. > :15:42.looking at the gambling sector in this area for awhile now. Earlier in
:15:43. > :15:45.the year we had the Competition and Markets Authority looking at the
:15:46. > :15:50.wider sector about initial offers, those offers you might see that say
:15:51. > :15:54.put ?100 with us and we will double that for you if you better certain
:15:55. > :16:00.amount of time, but question marks over how long they have been holding
:16:01. > :16:04.onto the money. So alongside this fine for 888 today is the gambling
:16:05. > :16:07.sector being under pressure from those authorities to clean up their
:16:08. > :16:10.act and to make it better for those vulnerable customers in particular.
:16:11. > :16:16.Thank you, Sean Farrington in Salford.
:16:17. > :16:21.On our website, details about Toshiba. They were supposed to have
:16:22. > :16:25.reached a deal to sell their lucrative chip business. It has not
:16:26. > :16:30.made any agreement with the three parties it is in talks with at the
:16:31. > :16:32.moment. So Toshiba are once again failing to deliver on a key
:16:33. > :16:38.deadline. Our top story: President Trump has
:16:39. > :16:42.begun a speaking tour aimed at building support
:16:43. > :16:50.for his planned tax reforms. In an address in Springfield,
:16:51. > :16:53.Missouri, Mr Trump said he aimed to reform America's tax code
:16:54. > :16:55.fundamentally for the first time A quick look at how
:16:56. > :17:16.the markets are faring. I want to mention a big loser in
:17:17. > :17:23.Paris today. Carrefour has issued a profits warning, which has come as a
:17:24. > :17:29.surprise. Its shares are down and it has been downgraded by JP Morgan. A
:17:30. > :17:32.pretty tough time for Carrefour. A big, old-fashioned retailer,
:17:33. > :17:36.struggling with very hot competition. Many retailers in this
:17:37. > :17:37.country and in the states are experiencing the same. Now,
:17:38. > :17:38.something entirely different. Well, it's philanthropic
:17:39. > :17:45.technology, apparently. Putting technology to
:17:46. > :17:48.use for good causes. And our next guest
:17:49. > :17:53.is doing just that, Jude Ower's company Playmob develops
:17:54. > :18:00.advertising campaigns for charities within video games and then targets
:18:01. > :18:05.players with those adverts. Her business has reached over
:18:06. > :18:08.150 million gamers worldwide so far. And in total, the initiative has
:18:09. > :18:11.raised over $1 million. Various beneficiaries
:18:12. > :18:32.include WWF and Oxfam. She is here with us. My kids play a
:18:33. > :18:38.lot of these games that you target, so explain how you help charities in
:18:39. > :18:45.that situation? There are two ways our platform works, and it is either
:18:46. > :18:50.by connecting an inapt purchase so a player can support our cause, or the
:18:51. > :18:54.brand can sponsor the content and the percentage of that spending goes
:18:55. > :18:58.back to our cause and we track the impact so you can see that by
:18:59. > :19:02.purchasing the item or completely that level, you are providing a meal
:19:03. > :19:06.or planting a tree or providing water. I immediately thought to
:19:07. > :19:10.myself, with all my kids and the stuff they play, I make sure the
:19:11. > :19:16.in-app purchase is switched off as they can't spend. That doesn't help
:19:17. > :19:20.you. Well, the average age of gamers is 35, so it's not just kids that
:19:21. > :19:26.play. The average demographic of a social game is a woman in her
:19:27. > :19:29.mid-40s. So a lot of kids' games, you can switch off the in-app
:19:30. > :19:35.purchase, but only a small percentage of revenue would come
:19:36. > :19:40.from that. Only 3% of gamers spend on in-app purchases. So there is a
:19:41. > :19:46.big opportunity for brands to spend on media in games. Digital
:19:47. > :19:50.advertising by 2020 is set to become $20 billion, and 25% of that is
:19:51. > :19:53.spent in game, so there is a big opportunity for brands to the part
:19:54. > :19:58.of existing games, which we can take a percentage off to give to charity,
:19:59. > :20:02.and the player doesn't have to spend money. It is like the player taking
:20:03. > :20:07.action like completing a level, and the money goes back to the cause.
:20:08. > :20:11.What will it look like if a game has this sort of content? Right now,
:20:12. > :20:16.there was a game called and we shot and you can buy a baby shark and you
:20:17. > :20:20.will get a message saying if you why this item, you will be supporting
:20:21. > :20:24.sharks in the real world. You can see the impact you will make. Or if
:20:25. > :20:28.it is a branded level, say you are playing a game like angry birds, you
:20:29. > :20:33.get to the end of the level you are playing and a new level will appear,
:20:34. > :20:36.which could be about protecting the oceans or the environment or
:20:37. > :20:41.endangered species. Do people want to feel they are being sold to in
:20:42. > :20:46.that way? If you play, it is for enjoyment. Do you feel like you are
:20:47. > :20:55.being sold to do if branded content is in the game? No. This is purpose
:20:56. > :20:59.driven marketing. It is talking to human values. At the start of the
:21:00. > :21:04.year, the charities aid foundation did a study of demos and 87% said
:21:05. > :21:10.they think games are perfectly placed to raise awareness of social
:21:11. > :21:13.issues. We see this happening with millennials in generation Z. They
:21:14. > :21:19.are not tech savvy, but socially conscious too. Your background is
:21:20. > :21:26.pretty impressive. You have got your MBE already. 2015, you were named in
:21:27. > :21:38.the top 100 women in tech. The list is long. Ben and I both said that we
:21:39. > :21:42.are always told it is tough for women in technology. Is that your
:21:43. > :21:49.experience? We meet a lot of women in tech because of what we do as a
:21:50. > :21:53.living, so we don't know. I have been in gaming for 17 years, so it
:21:54. > :21:59.is difficult for me to add to that as it is a world I have already
:22:00. > :22:03.known. It is a friendly community. It is male dominated, but it is
:22:04. > :22:08.getting better. The number of women in the games industry has doubled in
:22:09. > :22:14.about eight years. We are about 22% women in the industry. But I have
:22:15. > :22:18.heard of examples where if I am going to a meeting, people I have
:22:19. > :22:23.not met think I am a man because I am called Jude. I have not come
:22:24. > :22:28.across problems in gaming, but in wider tech, there are comments like,
:22:29. > :22:33.it must be easier for you to raise money because you have a rich
:22:34. > :22:37.husband. That would make me extremely cross. I was more
:22:38. > :22:42.determined to raise the money after that! All of this came to light
:22:43. > :22:44.recently with that Google memo that then went all around the world
:22:45. > :22:48.suggesting that women can't work in tech because they are wired
:22:49. > :22:52.differently. And Google sacked the employee who sent that memo. You
:22:53. > :22:58.have written about your view of that. You think they were right to
:22:59. > :23:07.sack him. I think so. We have to fix the problem. By Google making an
:23:08. > :23:14.example of this person, it says it was the wrong thing to do. We have
:23:15. > :23:21.to tackle the unconscious bias which is the root of the problem. We can
:23:22. > :23:27.put more women into the industry, but it is our perceptions that have
:23:28. > :23:37.to change. Thanks for coming in. Fascinating to hear about Playmobil
:23:38. > :23:41.and your background. In a minute, we will look at the business pages.
:23:42. > :23:46.Before that, a reminder of how you can get in touch with us. The
:23:47. > :23:51.Business Live pages where you can stay up-to-date with all the
:23:52. > :23:55.breaking news. You can get insight from our team of editors around the
:23:56. > :24:02.world. And we want to hear from you too. Get involved on the BBC
:24:03. > :24:11.Business Live web page. We are also on Twitter and Facebook. Business
:24:12. > :24:18.Live, on TV and online, whenever you need to know. And our viewers are a
:24:19. > :24:23.savvy lot if you go by the tweets about where you get your holiday
:24:24. > :24:27.money. Not at the airport, the worst place. James says, I do it on my
:24:28. > :24:31.smartphone. Another says, I use a special cover card which doesn't
:24:32. > :24:35.charge fees. Another says, I am on holiday now and I got my money from
:24:36. > :24:39.a department store online. It offered next they click and select
:24:40. > :24:40.the Jane Sydenham is joining
:24:41. > :24:54.us again to discuss. game is joining us again to select
:24:55. > :24:59.and pages. I guess his forces going in the direction. On the one hand,
:25:00. > :25:03.Emmanuel Macron wants to free up employment practices in France which
:25:04. > :25:07.have historically been a rigid. The other hand, that is making life
:25:08. > :25:17.worse for delivery drivers who feel that they don't have many rights.
:25:18. > :25:21.But the site but changes in levels are cheaper and more flexible to
:25:22. > :25:26.move around. But there was a suggestion they could lose out.
:25:27. > :25:33.There is a fear that arise they have be further diminished and don't feel
:25:34. > :25:37.well protected. It is interesting that that should be in the news on
:25:38. > :25:53.the same day we are talking about Uber looking to go public.
:25:54. > :25:54.Absolutely. But it may be a long way away.
:25:55. > :26:14.We got woken up by some heavy showers this morning across
:26:15. > :26:20.north-western parts of England, West Wales, some thunderstorms as well.
:26:21. > :26:22.But for many of us today, it is a day of sunshine and showers. Some of
:26:23. > :26:24.those showers will be