sbacic

22 ms·

151.
by sbacic 7y ago
How many of those employees work as customer support and do stuff like localization as opposed to developing Google's core products that are then sold worldwide (I'm really hoping somebody could answer that)? The first is basicall
152.
by sbacic 7y ago
> The proper way to stop this is for counties to make anti avoidance laws. You mean tax evasion, not tax avoidance, right? Last time I checked, avoidance was legal, evasion was not. If you actually did mean tax avoidance, then I must poi
153.
by sbacic 7y ago
> Is not about fear but working class being tired, among other things, of big corporations avoiding taxes and they having to maintain the social structure. I should point out that this isn't a universal problem in Europe. For many c
154.
by sbacic 7y ago
I have been seeing these headlines more and more lately and I have a nagging suspicion that somebody is pushing an agenda. What exactly that agenda is remains to be seen. As for the news article you mentioned, it should be noted that the £2
155.
by sbacic 7y ago
And what is the absence of rule of law and (in some cases) human rights abuses coupled with full-throttle sovereignty? Because that's exactly what you get with much of EE and the Balkans. Lots of talk of sovereignty and lots of example
156.
by sbacic 7y ago
A couple of problems with this idea - one, the people emigrating and their parents paid for that tuition through taxes. Second, what about all the people who finish college and stay in Romania, but work in some dead end job that doesn'
157.
by sbacic 7y ago
To be fair, some of that bullying is for good causes - such as human rights and rule of law. Free movement is one of the cornerstones of the European Union. If Romania were to restrict it, I think that the people most pissed with that decis
158.
by sbacic 7y ago
I don't think it's either of those things. I suspect China is doing it as a way to get a foothold in EU politics. Smaller, poorer countries are easier to bribe, coerce or just plain intimidate than say France or Germany. Furthermo
159.
by sbacic 7y ago
I suspect that the reason wealthy WE countries aren't investing in EE and the Balkans is that it is in general, a poor investment (due to corruption and brain drain). The real question should then be - why is China investing in those
160.
by sbacic 7y ago
> First, so few people are able to move; Let me tell you a little story. In 2013, Croatia had some 350,000 unemployed. In a country of about 4 million people, that is a lot. Today, we have the lowest unemployment rate in the EU. What hap
161.
by sbacic 7y ago
> stable currency, weights and measures, a climate of rule of law and the commensurate security of property — without paying into it. You are making a very big assumption here - that paying taxes guarantees you these things. I assure you
162.
by sbacic 8y ago
All of those things are required by law and apply to local companies and subsidiaries of US tech giants in equal measure, so I'm not quite sure what your point is. I, for one, would gladly exchange the current menagerie of dysfunctiona
163.
by sbacic 8y ago
The EU single market is not over-hyped - it's basically non-existent. Of the 28 member states, about 10 or so are actually worth the trouble to do business in (taking into account regulations and taxes, local language and customs, etc)
164.
by sbacic 8y ago
I'm not sure if you can do that - what you're essentially suggesting is that the EU forces companies to provide their services in certain EU members, whether it makes sense for them or not.
165.
by sbacic 8y ago
Even the most expensive of European cities are cheaper than SF or NY. That's scarce comfort when the difference in rent is 30% but the difference in salaries is 2-3x.
166.
by sbacic 8y ago
I'm very, very wary of any corporations that "work in the interest of the workers". What that usually translates into (at least here) is the government subsidizing said corporations with public money. Case in point, a pair of
167.
by sbacic 8y ago
I'm not rejoicing. I'm merely pointing out that, at least for me (and I dare say - most of Europeans that don't live in comfy western economies) is that most regulations are not all that important issues. They're more co
168.
by sbacic 8y ago
There is not much difference between the two. Sure, healthcare is a lot cheaper than in the US, but most other things are a LOT more expensive in Europe.
169.
by sbacic 8y ago
They are - I'd say that 90-95% of Croatia's IT companies are focused on serving those needs. I don't think that the situation is much different in most other smaller EU members. The problem is that high taxes and low tax brac
170.
by sbacic 8y ago
They should, but I'm not sure how that changes things for Europe? It still wouldn't be getting any more tax money if Apple was paying more tax in the US rather than stashing it away in tax havens.
171.
by sbacic 8y ago
Besides what gaogao mentioned, I'd like to mention one other thing - salaries. Just do a comparison between, say, London and San Francisco. And that's before we take into account high taxes most Europeans have to pay on their sala
172.
by sbacic 8y ago
Keep in mind that US companies are selling things in Europe. They're not making them. The cost to create those things are borne somewhere else - so it definitely makes sense to shift profits - otherwise you'd end up in a situation
173.
by sbacic 8y ago
No, that's (arguably - but I'd say yes) one of the rare good ideas. It's stuff like the VAT directive and the new Copyright directive that are the problems. The Copyright directive in particular - we Europeans often found som
174.
by sbacic 8y ago
That's absolutely true. However, there is one thing that isn't mentioned nearly enough - not all European countries (markets?) get the same levels of service. For example, there is still no iTunes store in my country or Amazon Pri
175.
by sbacic 8y ago
I think Europe is dead set on legislating itself into digital irrelevancy. Instead of focusing on the obvious question (why is there not a single European company in the top 15 internet companies?) they're obsessed with finding ways to
176.
by sbacic 8y ago
I think it all depends on how far you want to stretch the definition of "simple". I run a sole proprietorship and don't have to worry about national VAT until I cross a certain threshold. However, if I do business with custom
177.
by sbacic 8y ago
I've recently visited London for the first time. What really stunned me was the huge number of homeless people. They were practically everywhere. And they all relied on cash donations. I wonder what will happen to these people as socie
178.
by sbacic 8y ago
> A democratic government does what its citizens want it to do. Presumably they want taxes to be fair. Both of these statements are based on very big presumptions indeed.
179.
by sbacic 8y ago
Keep in mind that companies are not just large multinationals but also small mom and pop stores, freelancers and everything in between. I hope you understand how deeply hypocritical it is to tout paying taxes as a moral obligation while at
180.
by sbacic 8y ago
I don't think there's a single government that sets taxes based on fairness. Rather, I'd wager that most governments set taxes as high as they can without suffering consequences such as economic slowdowns or capital flight.

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