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>My opinion is that if you don't want to pay US taxes, don't do business in the US. The do business in the US and they pay taxes on the business they do in the

by sigzero 10y ago

>My opinion is that if you don't want to pay US taxes, don't do business in the US. The do business in the US and they pay taxes on the business they do in the US. The US tax laws are absurd on this issue. > there's nothing stopping Congress from enacting laws to tax stockpiled funds. I am sure that would be help up in the courts for so long it would never see the light of day.

mdorazio 10y ago
Absurd why? Just because you disagree with the policy doesn't make it stupid. Personally, I think the US tax laws are perfectly reasonable in intent on the issue, they're just poor on execution which results in the situation we currently have. I think we could both agree that a large chunk of the "business" being done abroad by many tech companies is fabricated nonsense based on shuffling IP around, building shell companies, and other tricks that have nothing to do with where money is actually generated in reality. The big losers here are small businesses that don't have the option to play tax avoidance games, not giant companies with multi-billion dollar profits year over year. And I agree with you that we're unlikely to see meaningful forced taxation anytime soon based on the current political climate, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try.
- brisance 10y ago
  How is its execution considered "poor"? Do you have any idea how difficult it is for an American to open a non-American bank account outside of America due to FATCA?
  - walshemj 10y ago
    If your an American in the UK Banks wont touch you with a barge pole and you are effectively excluded from things like ISA's
RealGeek 10y ago
The problem is not that they aren't paying taxes on their foreign income. They are evading taxes even on the income earned in US. They setup a subsidiary in a offshore tax heaven, transfer their patents and intellectual property to offshore tax heaven, and then route the profits from US company to their offshore subsidiary with transfer pricing tricks. Some of these companies claim that their headquarters are in Switzerland, Ireland or Cayman Islands. But in reality they are nothing more than a PO box and bank account.
- WildUtah 10y ago
  Countries with territorial systems have to monitor transfer pricing scams. The US actually ends up with much less revenue because it doesn't care as much about internal pricing abuse.

by sigzero 10y ago

mdorazio 10y ago

Absurd why? Just because you disagree with the policy doesn't make it stupid. Personally, I think the US tax laws are perfectly reasonable in intent on the issue, they're just poor on execution which results in the situation we currently have. I think we could both agree that a large chunk of the "business" being done abroad by many tech companies is fabricated nonsense based on shuffling IP around, building shell companies, and other tricks that have nothing to do with where money is actually generated in reality. The big losers here are small businesses that don't have the option to play tax avoidance games, not giant companies with multi-billion dollar profits year over year. And I agree with you that we're unlikely to see meaningful forced taxation anytime soon based on the current political climate, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try.

brisance 10y ago
How is its execution considered "poor"? Do you have any idea how difficult it is for an American to open a non-American bank account outside of America due to FATCA?
- walshemj 10y ago
  If your an American in the UK Banks wont touch you with a barge pole and you are effectively excluded from things like ISA's

RealGeek 10y ago

The problem is not that they aren't paying taxes on their foreign income. They are evading taxes even on the income earned in US. They setup a subsidiary in a offshore tax heaven, transfer their patents and intellectual property to offshore tax heaven, and then route the profits from US company to their offshore subsidiary with transfer pricing tricks. Some of these companies claim that their headquarters are in Switzerland, Ireland or Cayman Islands. But in reality they are nothing more than a PO box and bank account.

WildUtah 10y ago
Countries with territorial systems have to monitor transfer pricing scams. The US actually ends up with much less revenue because it doesn't care as much about internal pricing abuse.