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The UK has gotten very frustrated with the slow movement of international lawmaking in this space. With business rate slashes to help struggling retailers (reta

The UK has gotten very frustrated with the slow movement of international lawmaking in this space. With business rate slashes to help struggling retailers (retaliation against Amazon) and mental health funding increases for schools (retaliation against Facebook/Google), I'm quite happy to see something happen at last. I expect other governments to follow suit. From a tech defence angle, I can't see Trump rallying in support of his good buddy, Jeff Bezos.

microcolonel 8y ago
> The UK has gotten very frustrated with the slow movement of international lawmaking in this space The space of... international laws to transfer money for literally no reason to the government of the UK, even though they have no services or investments to recuperate related to the money in question? I mean, it's fair that everyone asks for a slice of the pie, but that doesn't mean it's fair that they take it.
- Jonnax 8y ago
  The slice of the pie? If these companies are upset about it, they can just leave the UK market.
- simonh 8y ago
  When AWS in teh UK can grant share awards of £11.8m to staff, but only pay £155k in tax, that doesn't seem like they are paying their fair share in UK tax.
  - joshuamorton 8y ago
    I'm a bit confused. At least in the us, my stock awards are taxed as income, not by my employer, but by me (well in the us there's also payroll tax but still). Why would you tax Amazon more if they pay their employees? The employees are already paying income tax, aren't they?
    - slivym 8y ago
      No one is saying that we should tax corporations based on how much their pay roll is. What we're saying is that the scale of those two numbers shows how ridiculously inadequate the current corporation tax laws are. Do you really think that a tax which brings in less revenue from one of the largest retailers in the country than an average employee of that company pays in income tax is a functional tax?
- snthd 8y ago
  It's their kitchen.
- kbenson 8y ago
  I think the space is their market, in which they set the rules and may want to tip things one way or another to prevent starvation and entire dependence on external parties. In the general case, it's once thing to let an industry shrink because they are out-competed, it's another entirely to let them shrink to the point where recovery is extremely hard or event nearly impossible because of the loss of domain knowledge. In addition, there's also first mover advantage, and in some industries that can mean the first mover dominates to such a degree that fair competition (market information is distorted) is hard. There's nothing inherently wrong with trying to alter the market, it all depends on the goal and methods. If this were applied towards bolstering competition by incentivizing Europeans offerings, that might benefit everyone eventually.
  - candiodari 8y ago
    > I think the space is their market, in which they set the rules and may want to tip things one way or another ... So far I'm with you. > to prevent starvation and entire dependence on external parties. Heh. Man I remember when I used to think like this. I remember the time fondly, oddly enough. Sadly, sorry to say, you will be cured of this. THIS is also the UK government: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_Inquiry_into_Child_Sexual_Abuse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_Inquiry_into_Child... or, perhaps, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_smallpox_outbreak_in_the_United_Kingdom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_smallpox_outbreak_in_the_... The UK KNIGHTED the person who lied in court to get the government out of paying compensation for ONE VICTIM that the UK government, after being forewarned of exactly what would happen ... to which the UK government didn't react to save a buck. Resulting in a problem that could have easily killed 1 million UK citizens, majority of them children. Needless to say, the UK government did impose incredible costs on some of it's citizens, in almost all cases with very flimsy justification (one person's wife being forcibly kidnapped, without informing the guy or their families, never to be allowed to see each other again, after the government killed her. I mean, it's almost a Disney villain plot, except without the good ending) Sorry to say, but if you think the UK government has either your or any of it's citizens' interests at heart. Or any other government. You're sorely delusional.
    - 8y ago
- mtgx 8y ago
  They should be taxed based on revenues they make from their users in UK. Loopholes such as shell companies and such should be well considered, too. I know revenue tax is far from ideal but it's also way more practical than profit taxation, too.
ct520 8y ago
2% OF REVENUE? NOT PROFIT? LOLLL papa trump don't play that, bezo or not.

microcolonel 8y ago

> The UK has gotten very frustrated with the slow movement of international lawmaking in this space The space of... international laws to transfer money for literally no reason to the government of the UK, even though they have no services or investments to recuperate related to the money in question? I mean, it's fair that everyone asks for a slice of the pie, but that doesn't mean it's fair that they take it.

Jonnax 8y ago
The slice of the pie? If these companies are upset about it, they can just leave the UK market.
simonh 8y ago
When AWS in teh UK can grant share awards of £11.8m to staff, but only pay £155k in tax, that doesn't seem like they are paying their fair share in UK tax.
- joshuamorton 8y ago
  I'm a bit confused. At least in the us, my stock awards are taxed as income, not by my employer, but by me (well in the us there's also payroll tax but still). Why would you tax Amazon more if they pay their employees? The employees are already paying income tax, aren't they?
  - slivym 8y ago
    No one is saying that we should tax corporations based on how much their pay roll is. What we're saying is that the scale of those two numbers shows how ridiculously inadequate the current corporation tax laws are. Do you really think that a tax which brings in less revenue from one of the largest retailers in the country than an average employee of that company pays in income tax is a functional tax?
snthd 8y ago
It's their kitchen.
kbenson 8y ago
I think the space is their market, in which they set the rules and may want to tip things one way or another to prevent starvation and entire dependence on external parties. In the general case, it's once thing to let an industry shrink because they are out-competed, it's another entirely to let them shrink to the point where recovery is extremely hard or event nearly impossible because of the loss of domain knowledge. In addition, there's also first mover advantage, and in some industries that can mean the first mover dominates to such a degree that fair competition (market information is distorted) is hard. There's nothing inherently wrong with trying to alter the market, it all depends on the goal and methods. If this were applied towards bolstering competition by incentivizing Europeans offerings, that might benefit everyone eventually.
- candiodari 8y ago
  > I think the space is their market, in which they set the rules and may want to tip things one way or another ... So far I'm with you. > to prevent starvation and entire dependence on external parties. Heh. Man I remember when I used to think like this. I remember the time fondly, oddly enough. Sadly, sorry to say, you will be cured of this. THIS is also the UK government: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_Inquiry_into_Child_Sexual_Abuse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_Inquiry_into_Child... or, perhaps, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_smallpox_outbreak_in_the_United_Kingdom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_smallpox_outbreak_in_the_... The UK KNIGHTED the person who lied in court to get the government out of paying compensation for ONE VICTIM that the UK government, after being forewarned of exactly what would happen ... to which the UK government didn't react to save a buck. Resulting in a problem that could have easily killed 1 million UK citizens, majority of them children. Needless to say, the UK government did impose incredible costs on some of it's citizens, in almost all cases with very flimsy justification (one person's wife being forcibly kidnapped, without informing the guy or their families, never to be allowed to see each other again, after the government killed her. I mean, it's almost a Disney villain plot, except without the good ending) Sorry to say, but if you think the UK government has either your or any of it's citizens' interests at heart. Or any other government. You're sorely delusional.
  - 8y ago
mtgx 8y ago
They should be taxed based on revenues they make from their users in UK. Loopholes such as shell companies and such should be well considered, too. I know revenue tax is far from ideal but it's also way more practical than profit taxation, too.

ct520 8y ago

2% OF REVENUE? NOT PROFIT? LOLLL papa trump don't play that, bezo or not.