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There are no such things as tax loopholes. There is compliance with the law as Congress has written with all of their agendas, and there is noncompliance.
There seems to be a lot of people in the world who get "enraged" that companies are greedy (and they are), but never care if governments are greedy. Why is it okay for governments to be greedy?
When this loophole exists, it's tough to blame Google for not taking advantage of it. You may as well ask them to donate their profits to the federal government.
Consider that most of Google's political positions lean liberal, in subsidizing government services by raising taxes. For this same company to be participating in a scheme designed to deprive the government tax revenue, while advocating raising everyone's taxes to pay for things... Suffice to say, this is not a company "doing the right thing", as their code of conduct suggests they should. And bear in mind, this is n…
You are either okay with companies avoiding paying taxes they do not legally have to pay, or you are not; it doesn't matter if it's an oil company or a tech company or a car company.
I think those who argue that google and other companies should "do the right thing" are a bit naive; these companies operate under vastly complicated taxation schemes and while at the extreme end it might be somewhat obvious to us that it's not really on the up-and-up, it's extremely difficult to decide which revenues should be recognized in which locales.
There are no such things as tax loopholes. There is compliance with the law as Congress has written with all of their agendas, and there is noncompliance.
Do you think shareholders would stand for a company paying $19.2B more in taxes than they should? That would be absurdly negligent on the part of everyone leading the company.
Would an individual pay $500 more in taxes than they are required to out of the goodness of their heart and belief in the American government?
Don't indict corporations for following the tax code, change the laws.
Analogy to put this in perspective: at your daughter' school, there's a collection for a new electronic whiteboard. Everyone pays their share. Except due to an old / obscure rule families below poverty line are exempt. One rich parent figured out how to hide all their income and qualify.
There are different ethical standards for corporations & individuals. Companies get to navigate these quite cleverly.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you blame people for legally scamming the elderly? That it is legal does not make it good.
Are the elderly entitled to extra protection against scams? Why?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Consider that most of Google's political positions lean liberal, in subsidizing government services by raising taxes. For this same company to be participating in a scheme designed to deprive the government tax revenue, while advocating raising everyone's taxes to pay for things... Suffice to say, this is not a company "doing the right thing", as their code of conduct suggests they should. And bear in mind, this is n…
Corporations literally have a legal obligation to attempt to pay as little tax as is legally possible (really, to maximize shareholder value, which might even mean paying less tax than is legally possible, as long as the expected value of the gambit is positive). The issue is not corporations taking advantage of it, the issue is that we have a system where an actor is obligated to optimize for certain variables withi…
Or, put another way, it would have been illegal for them to have paid that tax.
There are no such things as tax loopholes. There is compliance with the law as Congress has written with all of their agendas, and there is noncompliance.
Exactly. Do you think shareholders would stand for a company paying $19.2B more in taxes than they should? That would be absurdly negligent on the part of everyone leading the company. Would an individual pay $500 more in taxes than they are required to out of the goodness of their heart and belief in the American government? Don't indict corporations for following the tax code, change the laws.
> Do you think shareholders would stand for a company paying $19.2B more in taxes than they should?
What do you mean, 'should'? They 'should' pay the amount that is expected of them - the amount proportional to their profits. Each corporation should pay what is expected of them in full. This would produce is vastly more stable economy which would then let those corporations earn more money. It would benefit the shareholders of every corporation to have a stronger and stabler US consumer base than to have a crippled middle class like they create by not paying their taxes.
Yes, of course Google should have paid that $19.2B.
> Would an individual pay $500 more in taxes than they are required to out of the goodness of their heart and belief in the American government?
Sure they would. Why not? I've done this. Canadian government and US government. It doesn't make sense not to do this sometimes.
At least when Google failed, they go bully up. When government failed, they get rewarded with more money and resources.