4 ms·

I currently live in Sierra Leone working as a software dev, and just came back from an evening jog around the largest diamond mine in West Africa. It's crazy ho

I currently live in Sierra Leone working as a software dev, and just came back from an evening jog around the largest diamond mine in West Africa. It's crazy how much pain an misery diamonds have caused to this country. The citizens here in Koidu don't get any of the income of the diamonds, and live it extreme poverty... Meanwhile the guys from De Beers are living bougie lives in their maximum security compounds, with a pool, western supermarket and bar.

pinkfoot 7y ago
> The citizens here in Koidu don't get any of the income of the diamonds. Surely the issue of where and how minimg licences and sales revenue is distributed in SL, is something the folk of Koidu should take up with their government. As with any company anyehere, De Beers pays the share they are obliged to to the authorities.
- grecy 7y ago
  > As with any company anyehere, De Beers pays the share they are obliged to to the authorities BP and Facebook aren't paying their share of taxes in the USA, do you think De Beers is going to do so in Sierra Leone? The only difference is there are just enough tax dollars in the US to make life tolerable for the masses - cheap beer & cigarettes, sports on TV and elementary education.
  - pinkfoot 7y ago
    BP and Facebook aren't paying their share of taxes in the USA, do you think De Beers is going to do so in Sierra Leone? Do you have any evidence that thy aren't? Or do you just make things up?
    - grecy 7y ago
      https://www.cbsnews.com/news/2018-taxes-some-of-americas-biggest-companies-paid-little-to-no-federal-income-tax-last-year/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/2018-taxes-some-of-americas-big... BP Actually get tax credits, as does Amazon. So they pay negative taxes.
      - pinkfoot 7y ago
        And how, pray tell, do the incentives of a British oil company in another part of the world automagically imply the guilt of an African mining company in SL? Or is guilt by association the new thing these days? Show me where De Beers is not paying what the government of SL requires them to pay.
        dang 7y ago
        Please don't post in the flamewar style to HN. We're here for curious and thoughtful conversation. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - rzmnzm 7y ago
    Cheap beer and cigarettes are not provided for by tax dollars though. BP and Facebook probably don't pay much tax in Australia either, where beer and cigarettes are not particularly cheap (mostly due to sin taxes)
- markdown 7y ago
  How much do you think Apple pays the US govt in taxes? The US is held together by taxes on the working man and small businesses. Massive corporations don't pay their fair share. How can you expect the tax situation to be better in Sierra Leone?
  - simonh 7y ago
    Apple paid about $35bn in corporate income taxes globally in the last 3 years. Their effective global corporate tax rate is 24.6 percent and most of their taxes were paid in the US.
    - basch 7y ago
      Is that with or without payroll tax?
      - pmart123 7y ago
        Without.
      - simonh 7y ago
        It doesn’t include payroll taxes, import duties or VAT / sales taxes.
    - markdown 7y ago
      https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/06/world/apple-taxes-jersey.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/06/world/apple-taxes-jersey....
      - simonh 7y ago
        Yes that’s absolutely true, they do take advantage of international tax rules, but the insinuation that they pay almost no or very low overall corporate taxes is not true. I doubt the OP I was replying to expected the answer to be 24.6% of corporate income. I’ve got no objection to claims that’s too low, it’s a legitimate question, but let’s at least discuss this from an informed position.

pinkfoot 7y ago

> The citizens here in Koidu don't get any of the income of the diamonds. Surely the issue of where and how minimg licences and sales revenue is distributed in SL, is something the folk of Koidu should take up with their government. As with any company anyehere, De Beers pays the share they are obliged to to the authorities.

grecy 7y ago
> As with any company anyehere, De Beers pays the share they are obliged to to the authorities BP and Facebook aren't paying their share of taxes in the USA, do you think De Beers is going to do so in Sierra Leone? The only difference is there are just enough tax dollars in the US to make life tolerable for the masses - cheap beer & cigarettes, sports on TV and elementary education.
- pinkfoot 7y ago
  BP and Facebook aren't paying their share of taxes in the USA, do you think De Beers is going to do so in Sierra Leone? Do you have any evidence that thy aren't? Or do you just make things up?
  - grecy 7y ago
    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/2018-taxes-some-of-americas-biggest-companies-paid-little-to-no-federal-income-tax-last-year/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/2018-taxes-some-of-americas-big... BP Actually get tax credits, as does Amazon. So they pay negative taxes.
    - pinkfoot 7y ago
      And how, pray tell, do the incentives of a British oil company in another part of the world automagically imply the guilt of an African mining company in SL? Or is guilt by association the new thing these days? Show me where De Beers is not paying what the government of SL requires them to pay.
      - dang 7y ago
        Please don't post in the flamewar style to HN. We're here for curious and thoughtful conversation. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- rzmnzm 7y ago
  Cheap beer and cigarettes are not provided for by tax dollars though. BP and Facebook probably don't pay much tax in Australia either, where beer and cigarettes are not particularly cheap (mostly due to sin taxes)
markdown 7y ago
How much do you think Apple pays the US govt in taxes? The US is held together by taxes on the working man and small businesses. Massive corporations don't pay their fair share. How can you expect the tax situation to be better in Sierra Leone?
- simonh 7y ago
  Apple paid about $35bn in corporate income taxes globally in the last 3 years. Their effective global corporate tax rate is 24.6 percent and most of their taxes were paid in the US.
  - basch 7y ago
    Is that with or without payroll tax?
    - pmart123 7y ago
      Without.
    - simonh 7y ago
      It doesn’t include payroll taxes, import duties or VAT / sales taxes.
  - markdown 7y ago
    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/06/world/apple-taxes-jersey.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/06/world/apple-taxes-jersey....
    - simonh 7y ago
      Yes that’s absolutely true, they do take advantage of international tax rules, but the insinuation that they pay almost no or very low overall corporate taxes is not true. I doubt the OP I was replying to expected the answer to be 24.6% of corporate income. I’ve got no objection to claims that’s too low, it’s a legitimate question, but let’s at least discuss this from an informed position.