3 ms·

I guess Google, Facebook and Apple are stupid then too.

gizdan 5y ago
Yes. Yes, they absolutely are, and they should be prosecuted for their tax avoidance. Same with Amazon and all other companies. I, as lone individual tax payer, paid more in taxes in the UK than Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Apple did, probably combined. That is not okay. Edit: evasion > avoidance.
- joejerryronnie 5y ago
  There is a big difference between illegal tax evasion and leveraging existing tax code to reduce your taxes as much as possible.
  - gizdan 5y ago
    I edited my comment. I meant tax avoidance. I totally understand that there is legal means of essentially not paying taxes. That still does not make it okay. As I mentioned, I, as a lone tax payer, who made less then £100k, paid more in taxes in FAANG combined in the UK. That FAANG, who made billions. I probably paid more in the UK than FAANG paid in federal taxes (in the US) combined. The fact that Bezos was able to claim tax refunds despite him literally being the richest person in the world and to hear/read people defending him because "he legally did so" is absolutely mind boggling.
    - moreira 5y ago
      Your outrage might be aimed at the wrong people. Consider the law. They’re following it, and you’re saying “we should punish them for following the law”. That’s never going to happen. Ask yourself why the law allows stuff like that to happen in the first place. It should not. It clearly has been cracked, and needs an update.
    - Camas 5y ago
      >As I mentioned, I, as a lone tax payer, who made less then £100k, paid more in taxes in FAANG combined in the UK. Only true if you think companies shoulder none of the burden of VAT, income tax etc.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- csomar 5y ago
  So what do you suggest? We move to a feeling-based tax rate? Because I feel Apple should pay $26.55bn in taxes and they have a LOT of money.
aplummer 5y ago
There is a massive difference between following poorly written laws correctly and breaking the law.
- ezekg 5y ago
  Yes -- one writes the laws, the other disregards them.
  - aplummer 5y ago
    Huh? The government writes the laws, the people elect them. These laws could say "95% maximum tax bracket" (They used to) but they don't. There could be a CEO tax, but there isn't.
    - Dah00n 5y ago
      Lobbying groups often write the laws, politicians then just put them up for the vote unchanged. At least if we're talking about the US.
    - andrepd 5y ago
      > The government writes the laws, the people elect them. Yes I remember when I still believed this. Funny thing is this is demonstrably false, as in you can try to study the correlation between voter's opinions and legislation (and find virtually no correlation) and the correlation between opinions of the 1% and legislation (orders of magnitude better correlation).
  - jmcgough 5y ago
    I mean he certainly could afford some good CPAs to mitigate his tax burden if he wanted to.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

Yes. Yes, they absolutely are, and they should be prosecuted for their tax avoidance. Same with Amazon and all other companies. I, as lone individual tax payer, paid more in taxes in the UK than Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Apple did, probably combined. That is not okay. Edit: evasion > avoidance.

joejerryronnie 5y ago
There is a big difference between illegal tax evasion and leveraging existing tax code to reduce your taxes as much as possible.
- gizdan 5y ago
  I edited my comment. I meant tax avoidance. I totally understand that there is legal means of essentially not paying taxes. That still does not make it okay. As I mentioned, I, as a lone tax payer, who made less then £100k, paid more in taxes in FAANG combined in the UK. That FAANG, who made billions. I probably paid more in the UK than FAANG paid in federal taxes (in the US) combined. The fact that Bezos was able to claim tax refunds despite him literally being the richest person in the world and to hear/read people defending him because "he legally did so" is absolutely mind boggling.
  - moreira 5y ago
    Your outrage might be aimed at the wrong people. Consider the law. They’re following it, and you’re saying “we should punish them for following the law”. That’s never going to happen. Ask yourself why the law allows stuff like that to happen in the first place. It should not. It clearly has been cracked, and needs an update.
  - Camas 5y ago
    >As I mentioned, I, as a lone tax payer, who made less then £100k, paid more in taxes in FAANG combined in the UK. Only true if you think companies shoulder none of the burden of VAT, income tax etc.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
csomar 5y ago
So what do you suggest? We move to a feeling-based tax rate? Because I feel Apple should pay $26.55bn in taxes and they have a LOT of money.

aplummer 5y ago

There is a massive difference between following poorly written laws correctly and breaking the law.

ezekg 5y ago
Yes -- one writes the laws, the other disregards them.
- aplummer 5y ago
  Huh? The government writes the laws, the people elect them. These laws could say "95% maximum tax bracket" (They used to) but they don't. There could be a CEO tax, but there isn't.
  - Dah00n 5y ago
    Lobbying groups often write the laws, politicians then just put them up for the vote unchanged. At least if we're talking about the US.
  - andrepd 5y ago
    > The government writes the laws, the people elect them. Yes I remember when I still believed this. Funny thing is this is demonstrably false, as in you can try to study the correlation between voter's opinions and legislation (and find virtually no correlation) and the correlation between opinions of the 1% and legislation (orders of magnitude better correlation).
- jmcgough 5y ago
  I mean he certainly could afford some good CPAs to mitigate his tax burden if he wanted to.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]