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That -sounds- simple, but it isn't, and in reality any company would easily bypass that by simply creating other companies to take some of the revenue. They alr
by moreira 5y ago
That -sounds- simple, but it isn't, and in reality any company would easily bypass that by simply creating other companies to take some of the revenue. They already do that to avoid international taxes. As an example, the US charges tax on all income coming to a US company so companies have entities in countries like Ireland and Luxembourg to keep that money out of the US government's reach.
So Apple might have $100B stuck in Ireland, unable to bring it to the US, but it doesn't matter, that money still counts for their shareholders.
And it's the same thing here. If you try to tax $10B they'll just have 100 companies all making $9.9B/yr, in a variety of different countries, completely separate from each other, and you're back where you started.
And while this would be extremely complicated/expensive for them to manage, it'd be profitable because the alternative is to get a 100% tax on those profits.
Taxes aren't easy. And calling a company that sells phones a "society-destroying problem" is a bit hyperbolic, don't you think?
- CPLX 5y agoThere’s nothing simple about it. It would require pages of statute as well as regulatory guidance, and some of the most wealthy and capable forces in our modern world would be arrayed against it trying to avoid and evade the rules. None of those things make the proposal impossible however. It would be a dismal society indeed if we unilaterally surrendered to every instance of centralized malevolent power without a fight.