Google used a tax loophole to shelter $19.2B

Post by peteretep » Wed, Jan 03, 2018, 2:32 AM UTC

dkural wrote: post #88

cantrip wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

There is no law that says you must set up Bermuda, Dutch and Irish subsidiaries, and use your IP to shuffle profits, or other methods, to evade tax in territories where that revenue is earned. Most companies aren't wealthy enough to do this; and in fact they don't do it. Many of them are public corporations. Their shareholders don't sue or demand such actions.

Post by rspeer » Wed, Jan 03, 2018, 2:43 AM UTC

pfarnsworth wrote: post #78

> Google is "using tax loopholes that obey the letter of the law, but not the spirit of it." Absolute hogwash. So minimizing your taxes is somehow going against the "spirit" of tax law? What should the spirit of tax law be? Pay as much taxes as possible? I would love to see what deductions this blogger takes and see if he complies with the "spirit" of tax law. Typical socialist/communist viewpoint that anything that…

Post by Rescis » Wed, Jan 03, 2018, 2:52 AM UTC

peteretep wrote: post #100

chillacy wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Morality isn't really absolute, so I could see people justifying it. One line of reasoning could go: 1. The letter of the law and the Right Thing aren't always the same thing (jury nullification, MLK) 2. You disagree with what the government spends tax money on 3. You think AI progress is a form of "doing good"

> The letter of the law and the Right Thing aren't always the same thing (jury nullification, MLK) And if they were working on changing the law, or explicitly appealing to justice, that might carry some water. Simply flouting the law for private profit is hard to tie back to a sense of morality > You disagree with what the government spends tax money on Your moral remedy for this is to vote, not to steal

Post by totalZero » Wed, Jan 03, 2018, 3:16 AM UTC

dkural wrote: post #86

super-serial wrote: post #79

Bloomberg likes to write about how "tech companies do this" whenever it's something bad. The fact is all companies do this... it's well-known every industry is doing the same. Walmart, Exxon and Pfizer are just a few companies that tax-dodge just as much as Google. It's estimated $700 billion in taxes are dodged so singling out Google's $19 billion seems strange. https://americansfortaxfairness.org/corporate-tax-char…

Yes, but they don't have the "don't be evil" motto, or executives claiming some vague moral superiority to rest of the corporate world in "making the world a better place".

Post by WalterBright » Wed, Jan 03, 2018, 3:21 AM UTC

Rescis wrote: post #105

peteretep wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The letter of the law and the Right Thing aren't always the same thing (jury nullification, MLK) And if they were working on changing the law, or explicitly appealing to justice, that might carry some water. Simply flouting the law for private profit is hard to tie back to a sense of morality > You disagree with what the government spends tax money on Your moral remedy for this is to vote, not to steal

>And if they were working on changing the law, or explicitly appealing to justice, that might carry some water. Google/corporations as whole regularly do spend their money on lobbying/political pursuits. This is rather often criticized however. >Your moral remedy for this is to vote, not to steal Are you conflating Google avoiding taxes as theft? If so, why is there a governmental right to corporate earnings, especia…