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>My understanding is that the current process in vogue for the mega cap companies is the "double irish dutch sandwich" You're understanding is outdated this me

by s_dev 5y ago

>My understanding is that the current process in vogue for the mega cap companies is the "double irish dutch sandwich" You're understanding is outdated this mechanism is finished as of 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Irish_arrangement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Irish_arrangement However this article is a little biased -- it's main contributor is a user called "Britishfinance" -- who appears to be a London based corporate shill to take the heat off the City of London being a tax haven.

disabled 5y ago
> London based corporate shill to take the heat off the City of London being a tax haven. Nice catch. It could be a Russian bot or just Russian activity. Will ‘Global Britain’ clamp down on money laundering?: Regulatory easing after Brexit risks attracting more dirty money to London https://archive.is/PR0oX https://archive.is/PR0oX
mardifoufs 5y ago
That's literally a reddit conspiracy theory propped up on r/Ireland. Everything seems to indicate the editor you mentioned is very well informed & doesn't have any COI a part from vague allegations. Like what do people think, some guy working in the City spent tons of time making extremely well sourced and well constructed articles just to... Divert some sort of "heat" from the entire London financial sector... On Wikipedia? Imo that's absurd, and it's very similar to the type of accusations people (pointing at the original reddit post that popularized the city shill theory) make whenever they find an article that bruises their nationalist ego.
- candiodari 5y ago
  The point that there is no shortage of tax havens in the EU itself, including leading EU nations, is true. Luxembourg, City of London, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Netherlands, Belgium, the Vatican, Switzerland (sort of), Malta, all for slightly different reasons. I've even read articles from these nations where they point out that the only way they'll ever distinguish themselves is with tax law. Or rather: that they'd be broke if they weren't tax havens. And then we're remaining silent about "royal" tax havens that are individual companies which get preferential tax treatment from parliaments (e.g. Shell) and, uh, I guess "presidential" Total. These deals, for individual companies, are far more atrocious (and forced on tax departments) than any tax haven you'll find. They are directly enriching favored individuals in a particular country, and get tax advantaged for it. And to add a more "creative" situation to terminate, Cyprus is a double tax haven (both the Greek and Turkish parts of the Island are tax havens, for different reasons, interesting for different types of individuals and/or companies, but the fact that money can cross the line, even if people cannot, offers interesting opportunities as well). Neither side of the Island will ever have anything to offer the world other than some small tourism industry, so ... for them as well being a tax haven is the only option (other than, I guess, war). So what do you do about the problem that many of these countries have no real options other than being tax havens?
  - mardifoufs 5y ago
    Completely agree on all points, especially the last one. I'd argue that it's a very vicious way to remove international competition for the US now that they have effectively developed a thriving economy. It's just a much bigger form of regulatory capture Imo and some countries might gain way more by having lower taxes than whatever they would have with a 15% tax rate. But to be clear my comment was really just about the specific wiki article he linked to and the weird rumours that spawned around it. Otherwise I usually don't even try to comment on anything related to economics or finance here on HN anymore, it's just not the... right platform for that Imo.
  - clusterfish 5y ago
    It's hard to find sympathy for those just leech off the broader society to fund their lifestyle, be it individuals, corporations, or whole countries. What you do is cut them off, and they can deal with it like everyone else.
topicseed 5y ago
> to take the heat off the City of London being a tax haven What exactly makes the City of London a tax haven? If anything, it is not a tax haven itself but a facilitator to set up structures in some Crown Dependencies. But that makes it a financial and corporate service capital, not a tax haven (i.e., "a country or independent area where taxes are levied at a low rate")

by s_dev 5y ago

disabled 5y ago

> London based corporate shill to take the heat off the City of London being a tax haven. Nice catch. It could be a Russian bot or just Russian activity. Will ‘Global Britain’ clamp down on money laundering?: Regulatory easing after Brexit risks attracting more dirty money to London https://archive.is/PR0oX https://archive.is/PR0oX

mardifoufs 5y ago

That's literally a reddit conspiracy theory propped up on r/Ireland. Everything seems to indicate the editor you mentioned is very well informed & doesn't have any COI a part from vague allegations. Like what do people think, some guy working in the City spent tons of time making extremely well sourced and well constructed articles just to... Divert some sort of "heat" from the entire London financial sector... On Wikipedia? Imo that's absurd, and it's very similar to the type of accusations people (pointing at the original reddit post that popularized the city shill theory) make whenever they find an article that bruises their nationalist ego.

candiodari 5y ago
The point that there is no shortage of tax havens in the EU itself, including leading EU nations, is true. Luxembourg, City of London, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Netherlands, Belgium, the Vatican, Switzerland (sort of), Malta, all for slightly different reasons. I've even read articles from these nations where they point out that the only way they'll ever distinguish themselves is with tax law. Or rather: that they'd be broke if they weren't tax havens. And then we're remaining silent about "royal" tax havens that are individual companies which get preferential tax treatment from parliaments (e.g. Shell) and, uh, I guess "presidential" Total. These deals, for individual companies, are far more atrocious (and forced on tax departments) than any tax haven you'll find. They are directly enriching favored individuals in a particular country, and get tax advantaged for it. And to add a more "creative" situation to terminate, Cyprus is a double tax haven (both the Greek and Turkish parts of the Island are tax havens, for different reasons, interesting for different types of individuals and/or companies, but the fact that money can cross the line, even if people cannot, offers interesting opportunities as well). Neither side of the Island will ever have anything to offer the world other than some small tourism industry, so ... for them as well being a tax haven is the only option (other than, I guess, war). So what do you do about the problem that many of these countries have no real options other than being tax havens?
- mardifoufs 5y ago
  Completely agree on all points, especially the last one. I'd argue that it's a very vicious way to remove international competition for the US now that they have effectively developed a thriving economy. It's just a much bigger form of regulatory capture Imo and some countries might gain way more by having lower taxes than whatever they would have with a 15% tax rate. But to be clear my comment was really just about the specific wiki article he linked to and the weird rumours that spawned around it. Otherwise I usually don't even try to comment on anything related to economics or finance here on HN anymore, it's just not the... right platform for that Imo.
- clusterfish 5y ago
  It's hard to find sympathy for those just leech off the broader society to fund their lifestyle, be it individuals, corporations, or whole countries. What you do is cut them off, and they can deal with it like everyone else.

topicseed 5y ago

> to take the heat off the City of London being a tax haven What exactly makes the City of London a tax haven? If anything, it is not a tax haven itself but a facilitator to set up structures in some Crown Dependencies. But that makes it a financial and corporate service capital, not a tax haven (i.e., "a country or independent area where taxes are levied at a low rate")