4 ms·

All companies are supposed to be equals regarding taxes. If a part of them can trick this rule, then it is not fair and must be fixed. I agree that there is a

by styx31 9y ago

All companies are supposed to be equals regarding taxes. If a part of them can trick this rule, then it is not fair and must be fixed. I agree that there is a part of entrepreneurship which include being able to understand the rules and laws and use them efficiently, but all these familiarities used to game the system are only valid if only a minority of the people use them. One people finding this trick is ok, but big companies being able to buy these tricks is another scale.

_acme 9y ago
All companies are supposedly equal in doing business, but some manage to compete better than others. Taxes are just another area of competition.
- mrob 9y ago
  Competition in business is beneficial to society as a whole, by providing better products and services. Competition in tax avoidance has no plausible benefit. It's spending resources to solve an entirely artificial problem. If the problem was removed then the resources could instead be spent on something useful to everybody.
akanet 9y ago
Oh, sorry, I'm not saying it's _good_ that this is the case, just that you'd be surprised by the number of small companies pulling this kind of shit too.
- styx31 9y ago
  Yes, we were also tempted (suggested) to do the same at some point in our history. Perhaps as suggested elsewhere in this thread, some startup will be able to create an offer to easily outsource some revenues. That will certainly declare the end of the game.
freeflight 9y ago
> One people finding this trick is ok, but big companies being able to buy these tricks is another scale. Maybe using these tricks was what actually enabled these "one people" to grow into big companies? I don't think it's as simple as "Small companies all pay their taxes, only big companies cheat because the system is unfair". Imho there's plenty of opportunities to cheat without ever being discovered as a cheater, the vast majority of people simply don't notice them as such or when they do refuse to abuse them, out of a moral obligation to society. That last part isn't the same for everybody. I dunno which election it was, but I think it was the GOP who ran on this whole "Maker" theme where they pretended people are all living in isolation and nobody uses public infrastructure for any of their success. That pretty much summed up the whole mindset behind "not paying taxes" pretty aptly.

by styx31 9y ago

_acme 9y ago

All companies are supposedly equal in doing business, but some manage to compete better than others. Taxes are just another area of competition.

mrob 9y ago
Competition in business is beneficial to society as a whole, by providing better products and services. Competition in tax avoidance has no plausible benefit. It's spending resources to solve an entirely artificial problem. If the problem was removed then the resources could instead be spent on something useful to everybody.

akanet 9y ago

Oh, sorry, I'm not saying it's _good_ that this is the case, just that you'd be surprised by the number of small companies pulling this kind of shit too.

styx31 9y ago
Yes, we were also tempted (suggested) to do the same at some point in our history. Perhaps as suggested elsewhere in this thread, some startup will be able to create an offer to easily outsource some revenues. That will certainly declare the end of the game.

freeflight 9y ago

> One people finding this trick is ok, but big companies being able to buy these tricks is another scale. Maybe using these tricks was what actually enabled these "one people" to grow into big companies? I don't think it's as simple as "Small companies all pay their taxes, only big companies cheat because the system is unfair". Imho there's plenty of opportunities to cheat without ever being discovered as a cheater, the vast majority of people simply don't notice them as such or when they do refuse to abuse them, out of a moral obligation to society. That last part isn't the same for everybody. I dunno which election it was, but I think it was the GOP who ran on this whole "Maker" theme where they pretended people are all living in isolation and nobody uses public infrastructure for any of their success. That pretty much summed up the whole mindset behind "not paying taxes" pretty aptly.