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I agree, I think corporate taxation has many flaws (especially in a global context). But as long as it's in place it should be applied equally and fairly. Most

I agree, I think corporate taxation has many flaws (especially in a global context). But as long as it's in place it should be applied equally and fairly. Most countries struggle only to make small changes to their tax-systems (just look at all the loopholes and flaws most countries have sprinkled throughout their tax code). Or India, they've spent some ~25 years working on an update[1]. A global, synchronised overhaul of the tax-system would be very hard. Most likely, it'll have to be a gradual change. I also think more emphasis on consumption tax (VAT) and real-estate taxes would be good. But any change will take time. [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/04/world/asia/india-goods-and-services-tax.html http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/04/world/asia/india-goods-and...

cyberpunk 10y ago
The problem as I see it is that it's actually impossible to enforce when we're talking Google, Facebook, etc scale.... Let's take BigCorp'inc or whoever which is selling stuff in the UK and not paying any corp tax; should the uk govt take them to court and try to reclaim money it feels its owed? The govt doesn't really have the teeth for that fight; it's in BigCorp's interest to fight incredibly hard and throw vast sums at that kind of problem.. I'm feeling like the endless pockets of these companies would force the govt to drop any case when the costs get high enough (with enough lawyers, how many years do you think even the frist phases of such a case could be drawn out, and at what taxpayer cost?) that would be a huge embarrassment and would mean publically admitting we can't actually enfore this and so we don't even try to do it... So what's another option? We could attempt a sales ban, but that's a simple bit of math from BigCorp's side which makes it also pointless to attempt: If losing access said market forever costs less than paying taxes in all other countries where you are doing that kind of advoidance is, then goodbye to that market.. Right? If a sales ban on the UK worked, then the same thing would start happening everywhere -- it makes sense for them then to just walk away (certainly, it'll be cheaper). So we can't force them to pay, and we can't threaten them with exclusion unless everyone else does too, so what else is possible? Drop corp tax and double vat?

cyberpunk 10y ago

The problem as I see it is that it's actually impossible to enforce when we're talking Google, Facebook, etc scale.... Let's take BigCorp'inc or whoever which is selling stuff in the UK and not paying any corp tax; should the uk govt take them to court and try to reclaim money it feels its owed? The govt doesn't really have the teeth for that fight; it's in BigCorp's interest to fight incredibly hard and throw vast sums at that kind of problem.. I'm feeling like the endless pockets of these companies would force the govt to drop any case when the costs get high enough (with enough lawyers, how many years do you think even the frist phases of such a case could be drawn out, and at what taxpayer cost?) that would be a huge embarrassment and would mean publically admitting we can't actually enfore this and so we don't even try to do it... So what's another option? We could attempt a sales ban, but that's a simple bit of math from BigCorp's side which makes it also pointless to attempt: If losing access said market forever costs less than paying taxes in all other countries where you are doing that kind of advoidance is, then goodbye to that market.. Right? If a sales ban on the UK worked, then the same thing would start happening everywhere -- it makes sense for them then to just walk away (certainly, it'll be cheaper). So we can't force them to pay, and we can't threaten them with exclusion unless everyone else does too, so what else is possible? Drop corp tax and double vat?