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The financial success of the titans of the tech industry is driven by monopolies and heavy use of tax havens. The salaries are generous for these reasons. Canad

The financial success of the titans of the tech industry is driven by monopolies and heavy use of tax havens. The salaries are generous for these reasons. Canada - and indeed any country - could easily do something about this if it had the political will to do so. Strengthening and enforcing anti trust laws would be one example; cracking down on aggressive tax avoidance would be another. Then you'd at least have a level playing field for Canadian companies.

adventured 8y ago
Your tax premise is wrong. The proof is right there in the actual tax numbers. Average world-wide statutory corporate tax rate: ~22% National statutory rates: Netherlands 25%; Italy 24%; Norway 23%; Sweden 22%; Portugal 21%; Russia 20%; Estonia 20%; Finland 20%; UK 19%; Czech 19%; Poland 19%; Belarus 18%; Lithuania 15%; Bulgaria 10%; Hungary 9% Europe statutory average: ~19% The effective rates are that much lower. I'll be sure to hold my breath until Russia's 20% statutory rate starts producing vast tech giants. Effective tax rates for 2016 (pre-tax changes): Amazon 36%; Intuit 33%; Netflix 28%; TI 27%; Apple 25%; Oracle 22%; Priceline 21%; Intel 20%; Google 19%; VMWare 19%; Adobe 18%; Facebook 18%; Cisco 17%; Qualcomm 16%; Microsoft 15% So your premise is that the tech giants having effective rates comparable to Europe, is what produced their extraordinary successes. Be sure to let Europe in on the secret.
- melbourne_mat 8y ago
  I'd choose a longer period than 1 year - the are always ups and downs from one year to the next. Let's take Amazon as an example: their effective tax rate from 2012 for 5 years is 12%. They can only pay that because they have armies of tax accountants looking for loopholes. Small local businesses - the ones who might compete with Amazon - can't afford those accountants so they pay the statutory tax rates.

adventured 8y ago

Your tax premise is wrong. The proof is right there in the actual tax numbers. Average world-wide statutory corporate tax rate: ~22% National statutory rates: Netherlands 25%; Italy 24%; Norway 23%; Sweden 22%; Portugal 21%; Russia 20%; Estonia 20%; Finland 20%; UK 19%; Czech 19%; Poland 19%; Belarus 18%; Lithuania 15%; Bulgaria 10%; Hungary 9% Europe statutory average: ~19% The effective rates are that much lower. I'll be sure to hold my breath until Russia's 20% statutory rate starts producing vast tech giants. Effective tax rates for 2016 (pre-tax changes): Amazon 36%; Intuit 33%; Netflix 28%; TI 27%; Apple 25%; Oracle 22%; Priceline 21%; Intel 20%; Google 19%; VMWare 19%; Adobe 18%; Facebook 18%; Cisco 17%; Qualcomm 16%; Microsoft 15% So your premise is that the tech giants having effective rates comparable to Europe, is what produced their extraordinary successes. Be sure to let Europe in on the secret.

melbourne_mat 8y ago
I'd choose a longer period than 1 year - the are always ups and downs from one year to the next. Let's take Amazon as an example: their effective tax rate from 2012 for 5 years is 12%. They can only pay that because they have armies of tax accountants looking for loopholes. Small local businesses - the ones who might compete with Amazon - can't afford those accountants so they pay the statutory tax rates.