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Fuck. That. Why do you think the planet's largest companies are still the planet's largest companies? Because they've gotten in bed with government. That's why

Fuck. That. Why do you think the planet's largest companies are still the planet's largest companies? Because they've gotten in bed with government. That's why there's no income tax, because of regulatory capture. Of course Bloomberg wants to just give up the fight. Sure, corporate tax right now doesn't contribute much, but there's no reason why it can't. Yes, it's hard to enforce laws on entities with ginormous amounts of resources, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't at least try. The audacity of these people...

131012 10y ago
Bloomberg L.P. would definitely love having to pay no taxes. So do I.
- kuschku 10y ago
  I wouldn’t. I’d gladly pay even more taxes, tbh. Because taxes are the best RoI I can get. Every Eurocent of my taxes goes back to better education of society, better infrastructure, more investment in innovative technologies. Sure, I don’t get more money directly from it, but a very educated, modern society, with perfectly maintained infrastructure can save a lot of costs in many places, and increase your income even more.
  - AznHisoka 10y ago
    Its hard to feel that way for me when it takes days to get a government organization to respond to your queries (ie status of immigration or status of obamacare application)
  - prkua 10y ago
    So why don't you pay more? Is there a law in your country that prevents you from paying more than your are forced to? Aren't you allowed to donate money to your government? Sounds like this is the best investment a person can make.
    - kuschku 10y ago
      Actually, yes. You can’t just transfer money to the government, they’ll just send it back. But you can buy government bonds, which currently have a negative interest rate (you lose money).
  - conanbatt 10y ago
    I cant even fathom why someone convinces himself that taxes are moral and that paying more taxes is better for you. You pay taxes because if you dont, the police deprives you of your freedom. Not because you want to, and the argument that taxes are the best ROI is financially insane, otherwise you would just donate all your money to government institutions and you would become wealthier. In a perfect futuristing plentiful society, taxes would not exist: the goal is to make taxes as low as possible, not as high as possible!
- tirant 10y ago
  In exchange of what, what would you give up in order to avoid taxes?
bhickey 10y ago
I disagree. I think there's a multi-pronged, not-necessarily-partisan critique of corporate income taxes. These taxes are inefficient: They're difficult to collect. They disadvantage small companies that can't afford costly tax minimization strategies. They encourage big companies to spend money on non-productive activities (offshoring, shell games, etc.) The point of taxes is to raise money for the treasury, not stick it to the man. Moral indignation doesn't put bread on the table, so if we can collect by easier means, we should. Corporate income taxes are a big part of the rationale for the tax treatment of capital gains. The money has been taxed once, so taxing it at standard rates amounts to double taxation. There's an argument to be made for abolishing corporate income taxes and treating capital gains as ordinary income. Since the returns on capital outpace the returns on labor, in the long run wealth accumulates with capital and reinforces inequality.
- yourapostasy 10y ago
  > Since the returns on capital outpace the returns on labor, in the long run wealth accumulates with capital and reinforces inequality. Also, capital-derived income scales far more than labor-derived income, with far lower overhead. This isn't just in the physical domain, but also the time domain. This presents interesting tax and industrial policy questions on whether or not to treat large-scale capital-intensive organizations the same as labor-intensive organizations.

131012 10y ago

Bloomberg L.P. would definitely love having to pay no taxes. So do I.

kuschku 10y ago
I wouldn’t. I’d gladly pay even more taxes, tbh. Because taxes are the best RoI I can get. Every Eurocent of my taxes goes back to better education of society, better infrastructure, more investment in innovative technologies. Sure, I don’t get more money directly from it, but a very educated, modern society, with perfectly maintained infrastructure can save a lot of costs in many places, and increase your income even more.
- AznHisoka 10y ago
  Its hard to feel that way for me when it takes days to get a government organization to respond to your queries (ie status of immigration or status of obamacare application)
- prkua 10y ago
  So why don't you pay more? Is there a law in your country that prevents you from paying more than your are forced to? Aren't you allowed to donate money to your government? Sounds like this is the best investment a person can make.
  - kuschku 10y ago
    Actually, yes. You can’t just transfer money to the government, they’ll just send it back. But you can buy government bonds, which currently have a negative interest rate (you lose money).
- conanbatt 10y ago
  I cant even fathom why someone convinces himself that taxes are moral and that paying more taxes is better for you. You pay taxes because if you dont, the police deprives you of your freedom. Not because you want to, and the argument that taxes are the best ROI is financially insane, otherwise you would just donate all your money to government institutions and you would become wealthier. In a perfect futuristing plentiful society, taxes would not exist: the goal is to make taxes as low as possible, not as high as possible!
tirant 10y ago
In exchange of what, what would you give up in order to avoid taxes?

bhickey 10y ago

I disagree. I think there's a multi-pronged, not-necessarily-partisan critique of corporate income taxes. These taxes are inefficient: They're difficult to collect. They disadvantage small companies that can't afford costly tax minimization strategies. They encourage big companies to spend money on non-productive activities (offshoring, shell games, etc.) The point of taxes is to raise money for the treasury, not stick it to the man. Moral indignation doesn't put bread on the table, so if we can collect by easier means, we should. Corporate income taxes are a big part of the rationale for the tax treatment of capital gains. The money has been taxed once, so taxing it at standard rates amounts to double taxation. There's an argument to be made for abolishing corporate income taxes and treating capital gains as ordinary income. Since the returns on capital outpace the returns on labor, in the long run wealth accumulates with capital and reinforces inequality.

yourapostasy 10y ago
> Since the returns on capital outpace the returns on labor, in the long run wealth accumulates with capital and reinforces inequality. Also, capital-derived income scales far more than labor-derived income, with far lower overhead. This isn't just in the physical domain, but also the time domain. This presents interesting tax and industrial policy questions on whether or not to treat large-scale capital-intensive organizations the same as labor-intensive organizations.