4 ms·

> Competition, including taxes, is great for Europeans. If we study history we see that competition is one of the components that resulted in the dominance of t

> Competition, including taxes, is great for Europeans. If we study history we see that competition is one of the components that resulted in the dominance of the west. (see Civilization: Is the West History? I don't know. Competition for making the best science, technology, music, literature, food, ... seems different to me than just giving big corporations clever ways to avoid paying taxes for funding education, social security, infrastructure, ... Or, if that kind of competition is so positive, is the US tech sector doomed because it does not give enough leverage for google and facebook to avoid paying taxes there?

SilentCrossing 9y ago
I agree, that having companies compete on bringing out the best products or services is different from having countries compete on taxes. Just to clarify, countries do not give big corporates clever ways to avoid paying taxes totally, but do give them ways to pay less taxes in order to make themselves more attractive. There are various reason they do this, but they only do it if they as a location is not attractive compared to other locations. The issue is more complex if you dig deeper and start comparing the US and EU. As a general rule western Europe has lower corporate tax and higher income tax than the USA. If you dig deeper you can also see that certain business cluster do not need to give any tax breaks to attract and keep companies, because they have a thriving business cluster. Think of the wine-growing industry in California and the flower-growing business in the Netherlands. My main issue with centralizing the tax rules is that it will hurt the less attractive regions of Europe.
- jmfayard 9y ago
  There are better ways than a broken tax system to help less attractive regions, for example less deflationary pressure from countries like Germany. A deal better than the status quo is possible

SilentCrossing 9y ago

I agree, that having companies compete on bringing out the best products or services is different from having countries compete on taxes. Just to clarify, countries do not give big corporates clever ways to avoid paying taxes totally, but do give them ways to pay less taxes in order to make themselves more attractive. There are various reason they do this, but they only do it if they as a location is not attractive compared to other locations. The issue is more complex if you dig deeper and start comparing the US and EU. As a general rule western Europe has lower corporate tax and higher income tax than the USA. If you dig deeper you can also see that certain business cluster do not need to give any tax breaks to attract and keep companies, because they have a thriving business cluster. Think of the wine-growing industry in California and the flower-growing business in the Netherlands. My main issue with centralizing the tax rules is that it will hurt the less attractive regions of Europe.

jmfayard 9y ago
There are better ways than a broken tax system to help less attractive regions, for example less deflationary pressure from countries like Germany. A deal better than the status quo is possible