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While it may not pass in the US, this is bad news. The reason to do this is to collude to bar the exits to capital flight, and then impose exploitative policies

While it may not pass in the US, this is bad news. The reason to do this is to collude to bar the exits to capital flight, and then impose exploitative policies that would not have been possible previously. Why wait for your economy to grow with supportive policy when you can just take from the people today? Humans are innovative, someone will find a new way to make more, and then you can take it from them again and give it to the few who keep you in power. This cynical logic is what makes revolutions inevitable, because this ruling view is that people are basically chattel. Words are just a way to part you from your stuff. We can dress it up as concern for others, but we all know that on these leveled playing fields, some are more equal than others. It is not the playing field that gets leveled, it's us.

smolder 5y ago
This is one of the too-rare cases where government is doing precisely what you said they aren't doing: leveling the playing field --increasing fairness, as opposed to giving sweetheart deals. I have plenty of concerns with how my government is run and how their tax revenue is allocated, but tax avoidance is a basic problem of fairness and a problem to be solved.
- motohagiography 5y ago
  From the perspective of a state, the rule of taxation is, "progressive, simple, enforceable: pick two." The US code gave up on simplicity and probably has 10% of GDP dedicated to dealing with the result. Specifically, the playing field is being leveled between nations by their colluding against competitive countries to prevent capital from leaving them when their policies become unbearable.
nybble41 5y ago
> The reason to do this is to collude to bar the exits to capital flight, and then impose exploitative policies that would not have been possible previously. Exactly! If a private organization tried something like this most major governments would be rushing to enforce anti-trust regulations against them. But when it's the governments colluding to set price floors, suddenly that's acceptable?
warkdarrior 5y ago
True. As the recent Pandora Papers showed, there are a lot of innovative people who are forced to move their meager billions from country to country in order to avoid state oppression. /s
- jessaustin 5y ago
  What was even more amazing about Pandora Papers is that no Americans were included. One almost suspects that in USA the billionaires don't have to worry about interference from the state!
MereInterest 5y ago
> Humans are innovative, someone will find a new way to make more, and then you can take it from them again and give it to the few who keep you in power. Which is exactly why preventing capital flight is important. Otherwise, exploitative business practices can take advantage of previously built infrastructure, hide away any profits resulting from use of that infrastructure, and then leave others holding the bill for the maintenance of that infrastructure.
clairity 5y ago
there may be ulterior motives by government actors against the power being amassed by multinational corporations, but the connection to increased popular suppression seems tenuous at best. we need to be shrinking the power and reach of any large organization relative to the individual, so this agreement can be seen as a net win in that regard. the 750MM cliff however, is ripe for abuse (e.g., split into multiple subsidiaries that are just shy of 750). tax rates need to be severely progressive and continuous to avoid such shenanigans.

smolder 5y ago

This is one of the too-rare cases where government is doing precisely what you said they aren't doing: leveling the playing field --increasing fairness, as opposed to giving sweetheart deals. I have plenty of concerns with how my government is run and how their tax revenue is allocated, but tax avoidance is a basic problem of fairness and a problem to be solved.

motohagiography 5y ago
From the perspective of a state, the rule of taxation is, "progressive, simple, enforceable: pick two." The US code gave up on simplicity and probably has 10% of GDP dedicated to dealing with the result. Specifically, the playing field is being leveled between nations by their colluding against competitive countries to prevent capital from leaving them when their policies become unbearable.

nybble41 5y ago

> The reason to do this is to collude to bar the exits to capital flight, and then impose exploitative policies that would not have been possible previously. Exactly! If a private organization tried something like this most major governments would be rushing to enforce anti-trust regulations against them. But when it's the governments colluding to set price floors, suddenly that's acceptable?

warkdarrior 5y ago

True. As the recent Pandora Papers showed, there are a lot of innovative people who are forced to move their meager billions from country to country in order to avoid state oppression. /s

jessaustin 5y ago
What was even more amazing about Pandora Papers is that no Americans were included. One almost suspects that in USA the billionaires don't have to worry about interference from the state!

MereInterest 5y ago

> Humans are innovative, someone will find a new way to make more, and then you can take it from them again and give it to the few who keep you in power. Which is exactly why preventing capital flight is important. Otherwise, exploitative business practices can take advantage of previously built infrastructure, hide away any profits resulting from use of that infrastructure, and then leave others holding the bill for the maintenance of that infrastructure.

clairity 5y ago

there may be ulterior motives by government actors against the power being amassed by multinational corporations, but the connection to increased popular suppression seems tenuous at best. we need to be shrinking the power and reach of any large organization relative to the individual, so this agreement can be seen as a net win in that regard. the 750MM cliff however, is ripe for abuse (e.g., split into multiple subsidiaries that are just shy of 750). tax rates need to be severely progressive and continuous to avoid such shenanigans.