191–200 of 238 posts
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That's how taxes everywhere usually work.
> That's how taxes everywhere usually work. So, taxes everywhere usually see a 500% increase over 10 years? Forgive me if I require some sort of evidence for a claim as extreme as that.
This looks like it is on gross sales? If so that would hurt low-margin companies quite a lot; I imagine Amazon would be essentially forced to increase prices by 2% for example.
The UK is seeing the high street decimated with many chains closing scores of shops, or closing outright. That's awful for people who can't, or don't want to, shop online - and also leads to less tax being collected on the whole as Amazon et al siphon their money to places where they've managed to strong arm a sweetheart deal.
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The problem is for highly global, IP based companies it is very difficult to tax profits. You can just create a 'cost' (platform license fee, trademark cost) in another sister company (that is in a low/no tax jurisdiction) and charge it to the UK based one that is equal to the profit. Boom, no profit due to tax. Not really sure what the best solution is. The UK isn't really big (or competent, depending on your outloo…
We've had 6 tech companies breakthrough billion $ threshold this year. We're the biggest tech company creator in the EU. Sounds more like you've got a small (or incompetent, depending on your outlook) source of information. In the past year, the UK has added six billion-dollar tech companies worth $12.4 billion to its club of 26, more than any other European market, and has produced the highest number of billion-doll…
Good. It is becoming more and more apparent that there is a toll on society created by these companies. They have a negative impact on our domestic businesses (traditional brick and mortar, as well as home-grown digital businesses) not to mention our mental health and even democracy. By taxing them, hopefully we can go some way to reversing some of that damage (although I'm less hopeful of that...).
A level playing field makes sense, and domestic companies are at a disadvantage if their local profits are taxed while foreign companies' "local profits" are taxed offshore at a lower rate. That said, this doesn't level the playing field, it tips it towards local companies. The tax on business revenues should apply to domestic companies as well, and it should apply to businesses of all sizes. If it has to be netted a…
I know this gets said a lot, but I live for the day the world sees innovation and quality tech companies from Europe instead of taxation and regulation.
> innovation and quality tech companies from Europe Brit here (still in Europe for the moment). There is a lot if you include aerospace and pharma, less if you just consider software. The only non-British European software I've used and could remember off the top of my head was SAP. This made me think - what countries have sourced the software on my home PC? It's mainly American with a couple of outliers: e.g. New Ze…
I’ll remind every person here that you are taxed on your revenue, not your profit. It’s worth thinking about because it’s not always been the case in the past that companies had more rights than individuals.
That's actually not the case - expenses related to earning your income are usually (with a few notable exceptions) deductible. Also, capital gains are a real thing, and you are taxed on realized gains - not the full amount you sold for.
If you're self employed however the picture is a little different.
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There's lots of innovation and quality tech in Europe. We just don't see it because Europe has much greater diversity of language and culture than North America. This means that companies can target a niche in their country that has zero relevance to Americans. Not everything of value needs to be a billion dollar unicorn. There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
English is the business language of the world. I highly doubt there's some tech epicenter near Brussels that would rival Silicon Valley (or even New York City, Seattle, or Austin) if only those companies spoke English. And sure being a Unicorn is everything, but it sure as hell isn't nothing. I have no doubt there there is a company in Europe doing something amazing, but Europe doesn't have a culture that continues t…
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Honestly, you have to be pretty ignorant to hold this opinion.
Actually it is more informed than ignorant. Remove Sweden and UK from the the European list and you have needles in a haystack. Even if you account for the 'unicorn' adge there is barely have innovation in Europe. On the social front too too, European pay and ownership is more concentrated in the hands of the leaders and is less evenly distributed than American counterparts. Your comment strikes me a bit as if it com…
Remove California and New York from the US list and ...
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But it's much more complicated than that because the system is not meant to either incentivise or disincentivise insourced vs outsourced functions (and what you seem to be suggesting would create incentives for offshore outsourcing for them, which would be politically unpopular). And corporation tax is a tax on profits, not revenue (VAT already exists and is a tax on revenue and Amazon UK pays a very large amount of…
> Amazon UK pays a very large amount of VAT. Amazon collects a very large amount of VAT, no? It's the customers who are paying, not Amazon.
Economists would say that who should be viewed as "paying" any indirect tax (the tax incidence) depends on the price elasticity of demand for the goods/services in question. For highly inelastic goods/services, buyers should be viewed as paying the tax.
For highly price elastic goods, sellers (who amount to the employees and ultimate individual shareholders of Amazon) should be viewed as paying.
In the middle, it's a mixture.
The "solution" the UK has proposed is another indirect tax, so whatever applies to VAT applies to that as well.
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> Discrimination aside, isn't the UK providing the favorable tax haven to begin with (Double Irish) The Republic of Ireland is not part of the United Kingdom
That´s not... exactly... what was being referred to. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Irish_arrangement
"The Republic of Ireland is not part of the United Kingdom "
The Double Irish arrangement refers to the Republic of Ireland, a separate country to that of Northern Ireland, both of which can be found on the island of Ireland.