4 ms·

this is an interesting thought, but how workable is this? basically these companies are so powerful and US politics are so broken that I don't see any effective

this is an interesting thought, but how workable is this? basically these companies are so powerful and US politics are so broken that I don't see any effective regulation getting passed any time soon

zknill 2y ago
Various parts of the UK political system looked at a 'social media tax' that would then be funneled into the national health service for mental health. The idea was scrapped when it became clear the US would retaliate in some way (to protect their big companies).
- shagie 2y ago
  https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-you-need-to-register-for-digital-services-tax https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-you-need-to-register-fo... > Digital Services Tax is a 2% tax on the revenues derived from UK users of social media platforms, search engines and online marketplaces. > Digital Services Tax applies to revenue earned from 1 April 2020. > You need to register for the Digital Services Tax service if your business provides a social media platform, search engine or online marketplace to UK users and these digital services activities generate both: > global revenues of more than £500 million in a year > UK revenues of more than £25 million in a year --- It appears to have been implemented... and then... https://www.itpro.com/business/policy-legislation/361333/uk-to-scrap-digital-services-tax-by-2023 https://www.itpro.com/business/policy-legislation/361333/uk-... > The UK has agreed to transition its Digital Services Tax (DST) to a new global tax system proposed earlier this year, avoiding tariffs the US threatened to levy on the country in response to the policy. > The DST, announced in 2018 and introduced in April 2020, imposes a 2% tax on tech giants, the majority of which are based in the US. > The moved prompted criticism from the US government, which in turn threatened tariffs on the UK and other countries that have introduced similar policies. > However, on 8 October 2021, 136 countries agreed a plan for the new system, known as Pillar One and Pillar Two. In Pillar One, the largest and most profitable multinationals will be required to pay tax in countries where they operate, not just where they have their headquarters. The rules would apply to firms with at least a 10% profit margin and see 25% of any profit above this margin reallocated and then subjected to tax in the countries they operate. This is expected to come into effect in 2023. > ... > The US has agreed not to levy tariffs in response to the UK’s previous DST, and the UK will keep the revenue raised from the tax until the Pillar One reforms become operational. Once Pillar One is in effect, companies will be able to use the difference between what they have paid in DST from January 2022, and what they would have paid if Pillar One had been in effect instead, using it as credit against their future corporation tax bill. --- https://www.oecd.org/tax/beps/faqs-two-pillar-solution-to-address-the-tax-challenges-arising-from-the-digitalisation-of-the-economy-july-2022.pdf https://www.oecd.org/tax/beps/faqs-two-pillar-solution-to-ad...
Const-me 2y ago
A simple ban of internet ads going to fix that. Will remove incentive to create addictive services, because then people attention and screen time will no longer bring profits, quite the opposite they will cause costs for running all these servers. Will also fix media because if people paid for the content they wouldn’t pay anything for the media we have now. It’s not informative anymore it’s outrageous. This is because the clients are advertisers, and people are the product. Outrage causes traffic, and each page view generates profit. Mass media worked fine for the previous ~400 years because people who consume the content paid for it. But yeah, making it happen going to be very hard politically. Still, I hope it’s possible over sufficient time, after the consequences to the society will become impossible to ignore.

zknill 2y ago

Various parts of the UK political system looked at a 'social media tax' that would then be funneled into the national health service for mental health. The idea was scrapped when it became clear the US would retaliate in some way (to protect their big companies).

shagie 2y ago
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-you-need-to-register-for-digital-services-tax https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-you-need-to-register-fo... > Digital Services Tax is a 2% tax on the revenues derived from UK users of social media platforms, search engines and online marketplaces. > Digital Services Tax applies to revenue earned from 1 April 2020. > You need to register for the Digital Services Tax service if your business provides a social media platform, search engine or online marketplace to UK users and these digital services activities generate both: > global revenues of more than £500 million in a year > UK revenues of more than £25 million in a year --- It appears to have been implemented... and then... https://www.itpro.com/business/policy-legislation/361333/uk-to-scrap-digital-services-tax-by-2023 https://www.itpro.com/business/policy-legislation/361333/uk-... > The UK has agreed to transition its Digital Services Tax (DST) to a new global tax system proposed earlier this year, avoiding tariffs the US threatened to levy on the country in response to the policy. > The DST, announced in 2018 and introduced in April 2020, imposes a 2% tax on tech giants, the majority of which are based in the US. > The moved prompted criticism from the US government, which in turn threatened tariffs on the UK and other countries that have introduced similar policies. > However, on 8 October 2021, 136 countries agreed a plan for the new system, known as Pillar One and Pillar Two. In Pillar One, the largest and most profitable multinationals will be required to pay tax in countries where they operate, not just where they have their headquarters. The rules would apply to firms with at least a 10% profit margin and see 25% of any profit above this margin reallocated and then subjected to tax in the countries they operate. This is expected to come into effect in 2023. > ... > The US has agreed not to levy tariffs in response to the UK’s previous DST, and the UK will keep the revenue raised from the tax until the Pillar One reforms become operational. Once Pillar One is in effect, companies will be able to use the difference between what they have paid in DST from January 2022, and what they would have paid if Pillar One had been in effect instead, using it as credit against their future corporation tax bill. --- https://www.oecd.org/tax/beps/faqs-two-pillar-solution-to-address-the-tax-challenges-arising-from-the-digitalisation-of-the-economy-july-2022.pdf https://www.oecd.org/tax/beps/faqs-two-pillar-solution-to-ad...

Const-me 2y ago

A simple ban of internet ads going to fix that. Will remove incentive to create addictive services, because then people attention and screen time will no longer bring profits, quite the opposite they will cause costs for running all these servers. Will also fix media because if people paid for the content they wouldn’t pay anything for the media we have now. It’s not informative anymore it’s outrageous. This is because the clients are advertisers, and people are the product. Outrage causes traffic, and each page view generates profit. Mass media worked fine for the previous ~400 years because people who consume the content paid for it. But yeah, making it happen going to be very hard politically. Still, I hope it’s possible over sufficient time, after the consequences to the society will become impossible to ignore.