5 ms·

Its about time big multinationals pay a fixed percentage of tax on gross sales regardless of costs

A2017U1 7y ago
But they do. Everything they sell in Australia has a 10% sales tax, it's just as far as the article is concerned that's the buyers paying tax, not the sellers. Consumption taxes are the simplest way to stop tax avoidance, but it's taboo for many people who can't comprehend mechanisms to balance out flat taxes.
- basicplus2 7y ago
  No.. sales tax (GST in Australia) is passed on to the consumers and the companys do not pay any of this so they pay very little tax on Their profits Most invoices even point this out by putting their total price adding on the GST to the invoice for a total
  - joshuamorton 7y ago
    > is passed on to the consumers and the companys do not pay any of this This is semantic. The money a company has to pay tax on profit comes from consumers. If that tax goes up, so will consumer prices (depending on price elasticity obviously). All taxes are eventually passed on to the consumers.
    - basicplus2 7y ago
      no its not.. the Australian Gov even went to great lengths to show how businesses would not bear the cost of GST in the days of implementing the legislation! All goods and services cost more in Australia by 10% by virtue of the GST.. It is aconsumption tax.. the consumer pays it. It is not a prodction tax I suggest you talk to your accountant and have it explained in detail.
      - joshuamorton 7y ago
        If the cost of production increases, someone has to pay that cost. That someone is the consumer. All costs are (eventually) borne by the consumer because that's how economies work. You're talking about accounting, I'm talking about macroeconomics.
        deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
- thatoneuser 7y ago
  Even if you consider 10% sales tax to be their payment, that still leaves an overall % that's sickeningly lower than what people below poverty line pay. I don't see why billion dollar corporations pay so much smaller %.
- dwd 7y ago
  What you're saying on GST is correct. Ideally it would be higher while dropping the corporate and individual rates. There is another issue of having a level playing field as a locally based company pays corporate tax while the transnationals realise their profits in a low-tax country such as Ireland. At the same time the current exchange rate helps the local business as the cost of using services selling in US or EU currency has nearly doubled in the last few years.

A2017U1 7y ago

But they do. Everything they sell in Australia has a 10% sales tax, it's just as far as the article is concerned that's the buyers paying tax, not the sellers. Consumption taxes are the simplest way to stop tax avoidance, but it's taboo for many people who can't comprehend mechanisms to balance out flat taxes.

basicplus2 7y ago
No.. sales tax (GST in Australia) is passed on to the consumers and the companys do not pay any of this so they pay very little tax on Their profits Most invoices even point this out by putting their total price adding on the GST to the invoice for a total
- joshuamorton 7y ago
  > is passed on to the consumers and the companys do not pay any of this This is semantic. The money a company has to pay tax on profit comes from consumers. If that tax goes up, so will consumer prices (depending on price elasticity obviously). All taxes are eventually passed on to the consumers.
  - basicplus2 7y ago
    no its not.. the Australian Gov even went to great lengths to show how businesses would not bear the cost of GST in the days of implementing the legislation! All goods and services cost more in Australia by 10% by virtue of the GST.. It is aconsumption tax.. the consumer pays it. It is not a prodction tax I suggest you talk to your accountant and have it explained in detail.
    - joshuamorton 7y ago
      If the cost of production increases, someone has to pay that cost. That someone is the consumer. All costs are (eventually) borne by the consumer because that's how economies work. You're talking about accounting, I'm talking about macroeconomics.
      - deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
thatoneuser 7y ago
Even if you consider 10% sales tax to be their payment, that still leaves an overall % that's sickeningly lower than what people below poverty line pay. I don't see why billion dollar corporations pay so much smaller %.
dwd 7y ago
What you're saying on GST is correct. Ideally it would be higher while dropping the corporate and individual rates. There is another issue of having a level playing field as a locally based company pays corporate tax while the transnationals realise their profits in a low-tax country such as Ireland. At the same time the current exchange rate helps the local business as the cost of using services selling in US or EU currency has nearly doubled in the last few years.