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Evading tax let them be more profitable (or more affordable) than companies that can't do it.
by pygy_ 7y ago
Evading tax let them be more profitable (or more affordable) than companies that can't do it.
- tantalor 7y agoI don't know, that just sounds like regular "competitive" not "anti-competitive". By the same logic, does developing a more efficient manufacturing process (eg assembly line) count as "anti-competitive"?
- ineedasername 7y agoIf breaking the law leads to an advantage over other companies, that strikes me as anti competitive. They are not competing on the merits, pricing, or service of their products. To take it to an extreme, hiring an assassin to literally kill the competition is anti competitive.
- jquery 7y agoWhich law did Google break? It sounds like they followed the law and that’s precisely the problem.
- jlarocco 7y agoIf they didn't break the law they wouldn't have agreed to a $1B settlement.
- jquery 7y agoDid Google admit wrongdoing? Edit: I thought it was common knowledge innocent parties settle lawsuits routinely. Is that not the case in Europe?
- monsieurbanana 7y agoI also thought it was common knowledge big companies tax evade routinely.
- jlarocco 7y agoAnd I thought it was common knowledge that corporations "settle without admitting wrong doing" when they're guilty as shit but know they'll have even larger punitive damages if they drag out a trial. But then again, maybe you're right and Google would have paid their lawyers more than $1B fighting this, so it was cheaper for them to settle. I think one of us might be pretty naive...
- roblabla 7y agoCommitting fiscal fraud is breaking the law.
- ineedasername 7y agoThey disguised the extent to which their activities in France played into their operation for the purpose of putting it all on the books in another country. They were doing work in France and did not declare it as required by law.
- efdee 7y agoIt's anti-competitive because it makes you competitive through illegal actions. Whoever sticks to legal actions can't compete. Hence anti-competitive.
- rubber_duck 7y agoThe point of market competition is that you can't do some certain things to make sure your output is productive. You can go and kill your competition and that would also be competitive - but we don't really want that kind of behaviour so we have rules against this. When you're breaking and undermining those rules you are being anti-competitive - you are subverting market competition.
- denton-scratch 7y agoUmm, tax fraud by $BIGCORP amounts to robbing people who are forced to pay their taxes through the payroll. How is daylight robbery the same as legitimate competition?
- lonelappde 7y agoAnti-competitive means anti-"fair competition"