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This is amusing and sad at the same time. International companies play the national egoisms of countries against each other. If all countries agreed to one fram
by sgift 13y ago
This is amusing and sad at the same time. International companies play the national egoisms of countries against each other. If all countries agreed to one framework for taxing (yeah, purely hypothetical) all could profit. But every one of them fears to get "less" in such an agreement. So, in the end nothing happens and no country gets anything - all money stays with the companies. Divide and conquer.
- fmavituna 13y agoI doubt, if the framework was same current full or semi tax havens such as The Bahamas, Ireland wouldn't profit, as big companies wouldn't setup their Europe HQ to Ireland it would be in the UK. Hence smaller (lean?) countries will exploit this, it only makes sense to exploit this.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- nazgulnarsil 13y agoHow do we profit from taking money out of the hands of people proven to make things people want and putting it in the hands of people proven to murder civilians?
- sgift 13y agoYou seem to think that governments do nothing but "murder civilians", so here is a list for you to choose your next place of living (all places have more or less no government or the government has no power): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Failed_States_Index http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Failed_Sta... Please tell us of your experiences. Thanks.
- nazgulnarsil 13y agoAh, so I must choose between funding murder or being murdered. Seems reasonable. I can't just, say, move to and support with taxes a country that doesn't attack others?
- calpaterson 13y agoIf everywhere had the same tax levels, why would anyone bother to be resident anywhere other than the London/New York/Tokyo. A tax cartel probably won't happen - it is against many governments' interests.
- sgift 13y ago> A tax cartel probably won't happen - it is against many governments' interests. This is a variant of my argument. I may add: It is against many governments' _perceived_ interests. I do not think that a race to the bottom (Come here, 15% tax! No, here 10%! No, here 5%! ...) will help any government in the long term. So far, I seem to be correct.
- calpaterson 13y agoNo, it's against their actual interests. As I said above, if all countries charged the same tax level, no one would bother to reside in the ROI for tax purposes. Ireland has a strong interest in tax competition. Whatever money they gain from Apple is money they wouldn't have otherwise.
- nknighthb 13y ago> If everywhere had the same tax levels, why would anyone bother to be resident anywhere other than the London/New York/Tokyo. My question is, why would I ever want to be resident in any of those places? Never in my life have I ever considered living there. I barely tolerated San Jose for 9 months before I moved to Santa Clara. There are plenty of reasons to live outside megacities, taxes are way down on the list.
- calpaterson 13y agoIf you're a huge multinational, megacities have a lot of advantages.
- endtime 13y agoBecause the cost of living (food, residence, etc.) would go up to match demand?