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That's encroaching into a false comparison. Is the money politician's 'waste' any less in the economy than the money the corporations spend? Of course not, it'

That's encroaching into a false comparison. Is the money politician's 'waste' any less in the economy than the money the corporations spend? Of course not, it's still going to trade hands after leaves the government. I feel there are two real issues here that the article (which is mostly just click bait) doesn't get into. 1. Are any of the companies violating current tax code? (i.e if they actually owe more taxes then the IRS should intervene) 2. How are they achieving these low tax rates? And when/should we fix the possible loopholes. It's really stupid to get mad at companies following the letter of the law. We should be made at the politicians who refuse to close the holes. And who knows, if it results in companies just spending/reinvesting more money to still avoid taxes than at least it's more in line with the intent of the tax code.

chatmasta 7y ago
Also, what some people call loopholes, others call incentives. The market is doing pretty well since the tax cuts, in terms of equity prices, wages and labor. It makes you wonder if the incentives (“loopholes”) are such a bad thing, or if they’re working as designed, and actually stimulating the economy.
AnthonyMouse 7y ago
The issue is that it's not so much a loophole as it is a structural deficiency in the way international corporations are taxed -- it's supposed to be a tax on "profit" but it's straight forward to structure an international corporation such that its profits happen in whichever subsidiary they want. Then they naturally structure things so that profits accrue in a subsidiary in a low tax jurisdiction. The key to fixing this is to realize that VAT and corporate income tax are basically the same thing, except that instead of corporate income tax being paid to the jurisdiction where "profit" accrues (easy for a corporation to move around), it's paid to the jurisdiction of final sale (good luck moving all your customers).

chatmasta 7y ago

Also, what some people call loopholes, others call incentives. The market is doing pretty well since the tax cuts, in terms of equity prices, wages and labor. It makes you wonder if the incentives (“loopholes”) are such a bad thing, or if they’re working as designed, and actually stimulating the economy.

AnthonyMouse 7y ago

The issue is that it's not so much a loophole as it is a structural deficiency in the way international corporations are taxed -- it's supposed to be a tax on "profit" but it's straight forward to structure an international corporation such that its profits happen in whichever subsidiary they want. Then they naturally structure things so that profits accrue in a subsidiary in a low tax jurisdiction. The key to fixing this is to realize that VAT and corporate income tax are basically the same thing, except that instead of corporate income tax being paid to the jurisdiction where "profit" accrues (easy for a corporation to move around), it's paid to the jurisdiction of final sale (good luck moving all your customers).