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> The term "shell companies" seems to imply something nefarious Well considering they are mostly used by big corporations/capitalist firms to avoid all kinds o

> The term "shell companies" seems to imply something nefarious Well considering they are mostly used by big corporations/capitalist firms to avoid all kinds of responsibilities to society, I seriously question your lack of critique here. Maybe the way to frame this is that tax avoidance (or in corporate speak: 'tax planning') has become horribly normalized by the media. I think most of the working class have no idea of the institutional terrorism that is going on on a daily basis, against their own interests. They are gaslit with propaganda day in day out (I'm looking at you Murdoch, yet also liberal news gives terrible systemic critiques - so you could argue that's actually worse since they claim to be a fair and objective news source). Your arguments speak much too kindly about these firms (and the bourgeois government institutions that supposedly 'democratically' govern them), who are oh so happy to create as many 'externalities' as possible. > It's also important to point out that they do not choose The Netherlands for low corporate tax rates, they are not the lowest in the EU by far, but because of "tax rulings". Those are agreements they can make with the tax authorities that ascertain them how much tax they will pay this year as long as revenue, costs, etc, stay within a certain bandwidth. The way you're framing it, it sounds like you think this makes it fairer? The problem remains: multinational capitalist firms/corporations are leeches on the working class and are not adequately contributing back to society.

throwaway0a5e 5y ago
>Well considering they are usually used by corporations/capitalist firms to avoid all kinds of responsibilities to society, I question your lack of critique here. Regardless of what the effective tax rate paid is having a corporate entity per country you operate in greatly simplifies the regulatory compliance situation for taxes, labor laws and any specific laws that cover whatever your business is.
JI00912 5y ago
> Well considering they are usually used by corporations/capitalist firms to avoid all kinds of responsibilities to society, I seriously question your lack of critique here. No they're usually used by basically all companies that aren't tiny. > institutional terrorism that is going on on a daily basis Ummm... > They are gaslit with propaganda Eh take a hard look in the mirror. The marxist hate machine has never helped anyone.
- cowsandmilk 5y ago
  > No they're usually used by basically all companies that aren't tiny. This argument is just “everyone does it.” The 50 companies likely has little to do with taxes; let’s say it is for liability. Is that a good thing? The profits move out of a company, leaving nothing for when others are seeking damages. Is that a positive?
  - JI00912 5y ago
    > This argument is just “everyone does it.” No it isn't. That's not the argument at all. You're just projecting whatever you want to say on what you're reading.
- beckman466 5y ago
  > No they're usually used by basically all companies that aren't tiny. Ummm... that's what I said. That's my point. It's become normalized for corporations to not take responsibility. The working class always ends up paying the price here. Collectively we in the working class now expect corporations to treat us badly and that we have to accept this abusive behavior. In the context of more and more of the working class now starting to work in "non-jobs" in the gig economy, this current trajectory is becoming a bigger and bigger nightmare for the working class all over the world (see Nomadland, Sorry to Bother You, The True Cost, Blood in the Mobile, Push (Fredrik Gertten)). I argue that, along with banking and other rentierist institutions [1], tech corporations are a parasite on society because they monopolize and destroy our shared inheritance, and try to pretend they are immune to regulation because they see themselves as lone geniuses [2]. "By virtue of their position as digital middlemen, Silicon Valley companies are able to extract vast amounts of capital from all over the world. The most salient example is Apple: recently crowned the world’s most valuable company, Apple rakes in enormous quarterly profits even as the Chinese workers who actually assemble its products are driven to suicide. Whereas we were once led to believe that the network society would produce an egalitarian world, we increasingly see tech as a machine for the commodification of information itself. Something that has the potential to be abundant is made artificially scarce, because capital finds it profitable to enclose the digital commons and dictate its terms of access. Facebook wants a monopoly over your social network so it can show you ads; Google is the internet’s directory; Netflix, Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Music are your tollbooths for cultural production; Amazon is the gateway for your retail needs. These corporations serve social functions integral to modern life, in ways similar to industries that were nationalised in the past — and yet, not only are they not publicly owned, they are immune to any sort of democratic control." [3] [1] the UK working class pays £192,000,000 per day in interest payments to banks (we essentially pay extortionate 'rent' for the money we use in our daily lives): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzCegQVljdY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzCegQVljdY [2] https://www.technologyreview.com/2015/08/04/166593/techs-enduring-great-man-myth/ https://www.technologyreview.com/2015/08/04/166593/techs-end... [3] https://tribunemag.co.uk/2019/01/abolish-silicon-valley https://tribunemag.co.uk/2019/01/abolish-silicon-valley

throwaway0a5e 5y ago

>Well considering they are usually used by corporations/capitalist firms to avoid all kinds of responsibilities to society, I question your lack of critique here. Regardless of what the effective tax rate paid is having a corporate entity per country you operate in greatly simplifies the regulatory compliance situation for taxes, labor laws and any specific laws that cover whatever your business is.

JI00912 5y ago

> Well considering they are usually used by corporations/capitalist firms to avoid all kinds of responsibilities to society, I seriously question your lack of critique here. No they're usually used by basically all companies that aren't tiny. > institutional terrorism that is going on on a daily basis Ummm... > They are gaslit with propaganda Eh take a hard look in the mirror. The marxist hate machine has never helped anyone.

cowsandmilk 5y ago
> No they're usually used by basically all companies that aren't tiny. This argument is just “everyone does it.” The 50 companies likely has little to do with taxes; let’s say it is for liability. Is that a good thing? The profits move out of a company, leaving nothing for when others are seeking damages. Is that a positive?
- JI00912 5y ago
  > This argument is just “everyone does it.” No it isn't. That's not the argument at all. You're just projecting whatever you want to say on what you're reading.
beckman466 5y ago
> No they're usually used by basically all companies that aren't tiny. Ummm... that's what I said. That's my point. It's become normalized for corporations to not take responsibility. The working class always ends up paying the price here. Collectively we in the working class now expect corporations to treat us badly and that we have to accept this abusive behavior. In the context of more and more of the working class now starting to work in "non-jobs" in the gig economy, this current trajectory is becoming a bigger and bigger nightmare for the working class all over the world (see Nomadland, Sorry to Bother You, The True Cost, Blood in the Mobile, Push (Fredrik Gertten)). I argue that, along with banking and other rentierist institutions [1], tech corporations are a parasite on society because they monopolize and destroy our shared inheritance, and try to pretend they are immune to regulation because they see themselves as lone geniuses [2]. "By virtue of their position as digital middlemen, Silicon Valley companies are able to extract vast amounts of capital from all over the world. The most salient example is Apple: recently crowned the world’s most valuable company, Apple rakes in enormous quarterly profits even as the Chinese workers who actually assemble its products are driven to suicide. Whereas we were once led to believe that the network society would produce an egalitarian world, we increasingly see tech as a machine for the commodification of information itself. Something that has the potential to be abundant is made artificially scarce, because capital finds it profitable to enclose the digital commons and dictate its terms of access. Facebook wants a monopoly over your social network so it can show you ads; Google is the internet’s directory; Netflix, Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Music are your tollbooths for cultural production; Amazon is the gateway for your retail needs. These corporations serve social functions integral to modern life, in ways similar to industries that were nationalised in the past — and yet, not only are they not publicly owned, they are immune to any sort of democratic control." [3] [1] the UK working class pays £192,000,000 per day in interest payments to banks (we essentially pay extortionate 'rent' for the money we use in our daily lives): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzCegQVljdY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzCegQVljdY [2] https://www.technologyreview.com/2015/08/04/166593/techs-enduring-great-man-myth/ https://www.technologyreview.com/2015/08/04/166593/techs-end... [3] https://tribunemag.co.uk/2019/01/abolish-silicon-valley https://tribunemag.co.uk/2019/01/abolish-silicon-valley