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> successful businesspeople (at least in America) tend to accept that full legal compliance is impossible and instead worry only about the risk of noncompliance

by c2h5oh 9y ago

> successful businesspeople (at least in America) tend to accept that full legal compliance is impossible and instead worry only about the risk of noncompliance That's because it's cheaper to settle than to be compliant as a result of prosecutors willing to settle for a fraction of what would otherwise be due, but avoiding a long trial. If government is not involved businesses often settle for more than would otherwise be due, to avoid a long and costly trial. Curious.. Anyway, in most civilised world the opposite is true. Non-compliance can be VERY costly. Going back to your question: I've run my first businesses in EU and I still have EU mindset. I'd rather have the piece of mind knowing that I'm compliant. And as much as it's going to sound weird in the light of Apple tax "optimisation" I can afford to pay my taxes, even if I don't live in US and don't benefit from them in any way and know most of them are going to be wasted.

nkurz 9y ago
That's because it's cheaper to settle than to be compliant as a result of prosecutors willing to settle for a fraction of what would otherwise be due That's likely true, although I think the dominant factor is probably the laxity of enforcement. That is, even if the penalties far exceeded the cost of compliance, if your chances of being caught are small enough, the economics (if not the morality) favor noncompliance. There is also the problem that attempting to be compliant can call attention to your noncompliance, thus perversely increasing that chances that you will be penalized. Anyway, in most civilised world the opposite is true. Non-compliance can be VERY costly. In my mind what is worse about the current US system is that once one accepts the existence of contradictory regulatory regimes combined with lax selective enforcement, most of leverage that would keep the system sane is lost. If the penalties are severe and regularly enforced, there is a much stronger feedback to make full compliance efficient, or at least possible. I'd rather have the piece of mind knowing that I'm compliant. While it may provide peace of mind, realize that there is almost no way to know all the rules, and you are almost definitely noncompliant with regard to some of those you do not know. There are likely agencies that believe they have jurisdiction over you that you've never even heard of. In my case of running a vegan frozen dessert business in California, while my research had revealed that the California Dairy Board reserved the right to regulate non-dairy frozen desserts (under the theory that a consumer might be confused into thinking that they were a dairy product) I was surprised when the federal Food and Drug Administration found me noncompliant for failing to properly register under the theory that since we had purchased some of our ingredients from another state (cocoa powder) we were engaged in interstate commerce and thus subject to their regulatory burden. While we ended up not paying any fines, and while the agents involved were polite and respectful, there were several painful days wasted on record searches and interviews with all of our key employees.
TallGuyShort 9y ago
>> I'd rather have the piece of mind knowing that I'm compliant. Well that's the problem, in my opinion. I tend to try very hard to ensure I'm compliant: I read contracts before signing them, etc. Increasingly I have no idea if I'm compliant because the contents of contracts and laws seem arbitrary and vague to me, and you have to be the person who will decide or be the lawyer who works with them to have any sense of if you're compliant or not. There's no 1 checklist you can go to to make sure you're complying with laws from multiple branches of multiple layers of government.

by c2h5oh 9y ago

nkurz 9y ago

That's because it's cheaper to settle than to be compliant as a result of prosecutors willing to settle for a fraction of what would otherwise be due That's likely true, although I think the dominant factor is probably the laxity of enforcement. That is, even if the penalties far exceeded the cost of compliance, if your chances of being caught are small enough, the economics (if not the morality) favor noncompliance. There is also the problem that attempting to be compliant can call attention to your noncompliance, thus perversely increasing that chances that you will be penalized. Anyway, in most civilised world the opposite is true. Non-compliance can be VERY costly. In my mind what is worse about the current US system is that once one accepts the existence of contradictory regulatory regimes combined with lax selective enforcement, most of leverage that would keep the system sane is lost. If the penalties are severe and regularly enforced, there is a much stronger feedback to make full compliance efficient, or at least possible. I'd rather have the piece of mind knowing that I'm compliant. While it may provide peace of mind, realize that there is almost no way to know all the rules, and you are almost definitely noncompliant with regard to some of those you do not know. There are likely agencies that believe they have jurisdiction over you that you've never even heard of. In my case of running a vegan frozen dessert business in California, while my research had revealed that the California Dairy Board reserved the right to regulate non-dairy frozen desserts (under the theory that a consumer might be confused into thinking that they were a dairy product) I was surprised when the federal Food and Drug Administration found me noncompliant for failing to properly register under the theory that since we had purchased some of our ingredients from another state (cocoa powder) we were engaged in interstate commerce and thus subject to their regulatory burden. While we ended up not paying any fines, and while the agents involved were polite and respectful, there were several painful days wasted on record searches and interviews with all of our key employees.

TallGuyShort 9y ago

>> I'd rather have the piece of mind knowing that I'm compliant. Well that's the problem, in my opinion. I tend to try very hard to ensure I'm compliant: I read contracts before signing them, etc. Increasingly I have no idea if I'm compliant because the contents of contracts and laws seem arbitrary and vague to me, and you have to be the person who will decide or be the lawyer who works with them to have any sense of if you're compliant or not. There's no 1 checklist you can go to to make sure you're complying with laws from multiple branches of multiple layers of government.