261–270 of 368 posts
Spain shaking down Google, while the US shakes down VW. A trade war by any other name...
I don't see how you can possibly make this comparison. What VW did is so much worse than legal but creative tax strategies. VW deserves to pay for all of the harm it did to the environment and our lungs.
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That you cannot think of such an argument doesn't mean much. That such possible arguments wouldn't obtain "legitimacy" in your mind explains far more about your conception of the role of business in society. There are no optional taxes—any company that actively seeks ways to avoid taxes is not dealing justly or ethically with the society in which it exists. The same goes for citizens. A healthy and just society canno…
You're entitled to your opinion (even if expressed in an insulting way, as you did here), and I'm certain that there are ways for you to maximize your personal tax bill to help satisfy the social responsibility that you feel others have. Lead by doing. However, I don't think you'll find tax maximization strategies in use at any major corporation, now or at any time in the future, and I'd expect shareholder lawsuits i…
Also, I didn't express myself in an insulting way. You've edited this comment a few times now, and it's cool to just stick with the actual topic. I made no insults.
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> Taxes shouldn't be seen as a burden, they should be seen as an opportunity. What a load of garbage. Taxes are theft at the end of a gun and we have little choice in how they are used. It's downright ignorant to believe that most taxes are used for the betterment of society rather than to line the pockets of select constituencies. Your conflation of "society" with "government" is fictitious.
They are not theft, because a human does not have innate property rights(or any other kinds of rights for that matter). All your rights are provided and guaranteed by the state.
And really, it's human's that guarantee the state's rights, not the other way around. The state is an abstract concept that exists only because humans gave it that right at some point.
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You are free to overpay on your taxes as well. I assume based on your reasoning that you give the government your entire income minus expenses. Governments have the ability to levy taxes. If they need money they should levy a tax. It's that simple. There is no 'right amount' that a company should be paying that is more than the law requires them to pay.
You appear to be responding to things I have not said. No suggestion at all of right amounts or paying more than the law requires.
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Of course there is. I think there is a strong economic consensus that government subsidies can be bad. Your argument essentially invalidates that and supports a world where legal corruption is moral.
>Your argument essentially invalidates that and supports a world where legal corruption is moral. No it doesn't. It implies that the correct fix is to eliminate tax loopholes, not attempting to guilt a corporation into paying more, which is about as effective as guilting the sun into cooling down.
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How can a tax be in this category?
There are many ways a tax can be unethical. It may finance torture, invasion, and fomenting coups in undeveloped nations that lead to widespread suffering. For example.
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They are not theft, because a human does not have innate property rights(or any other kinds of rights for that matter). All your rights are provided and guaranteed by the state.
By that reasoning, the state does not have an innate right or authority to provide or guarantee human rights. And really, it's human's that guarantee the state's rights, not the other way around. The state is an abstract concept that exists only because humans gave it that right at some point.
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(Off-topic meta-conversation.) HN tends to downvote any political comments, especially comments that turn the discussion more political, even in a story that already tangentially touches on politics. The HN guidelines more-or-less document the former; the latter seems like a natural consequence. In general, politics is almost always off-topic here; there are many other places to discuss politics. (Personally, I tend…
> In general, politics is almost always off-topic here This attitude is one of the most damaging flaws in tech culture. There is this idea that engineering, design, and sometimes even business are somehow outside of politics, which is absolutely incorrect. Politics is simply how humans interact to negotiate the mechanics of society. Creating a good or service has political consequences. Often these consequences are s…
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You're entitled to your opinion (even if expressed in an insulting way, as you did here), and I'm certain that there are ways for you to maximize your personal tax bill to help satisfy the social responsibility that you feel others have. Lead by doing. However, I don't think you'll find tax maximization strategies in use at any major corporation, now or at any time in the future, and I'd expect shareholder lawsuits i…
You, like your sibling respondent, appear to be replying to things I have not said. No suggestion was made for maximizing taxes or overpaying. Also, I didn't express myself in an insulting way. You've edited this comment a few times now, and it's cool to just stick with the actual topic. I made no insults.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That you cannot think of such an argument doesn't mean much. That such possible arguments wouldn't obtain "legitimacy" in your mind explains far more about your conception of the role of business in society. There are no optional taxes—any company that actively seeks ways to avoid taxes is not dealing justly or ethically with the society in which it exists. The same goes for citizens. A healthy and just society canno…
You are free to overpay on your taxes as well. I assume based on your reasoning that you give the government your entire income minus expenses. Governments have the ability to levy taxes. If they need money they should levy a tax. It's that simple. There is no 'right amount' that a company should be paying that is more than the law requires them to pay.