France Plans 5% Digital Tax as Governments Chase Internet Giants
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Re: France Plans 5% Digital Tax as Governments Chase Internet Giants
#2Couldn't we just ban tax evasion? What makes it so hard? (honest question)
A recent European study has shown that the more company win money, the less they pay in taxes (in percentage).
Is it because of bad laws? Corrupt politicians? Something else?
Re: France Plans 5% Digital Tax as Governments Chase Internet Giants
#3Might anyone have insights on why they're stopping at 5%?
If the idea is to tax the internet giants on the business they do in France, why not seek to tax them at the usual corporate tax rate? The internet giants will, I presume, fight it either way, and it's not like a tax is going to stop them from serving French customers.
Re: France Plans 5% Digital Tax as Governments Chase Internet Giants
#4Couldn't we just ban tax evasion? What makes it so hard? (honest question) A recent European study has shown that the more company win money, the less they pay in taxes (in percentage). Is it because of bad laws? Corrupt politicians? Something else?
Tax evasion is already illegal.
Re: France Plans 5% Digital Tax as Governments Chase Internet Giants
#5Might anyone have insights on why they're stopping at 5%? If the idea is to tax the internet giants on the business they do in France, why not seek to tax them at the usual corporate tax rate? The internet giants will, I presume, fight it either way, and it's not like a tax is going to stop them from serving French customers.
As I understood the article, this is a tax on sales, not profits.
Re: France Plans 5% Digital Tax as Governments Chase Internet Giants
#6Couldn't we just ban tax evasion? What makes it so hard? (honest question) A recent European study has shown that the more company win money, the less they pay in taxes (in percentage). Is it because of bad laws? Corrupt politicians? Something else?
My guess: Big corporations often have more potential to outsource, and are better known, and have a stronger PR and legal department. These traits give them a much better negotiation position (don't remember that governments profit from taxes, so it's a bit of a demand and supply thing: If taxes are high in one country, a big company will threaten to move to another, which costs the country money in the end).
At least, this is the argument that the Dutch government uses to abandon as many taxes for companies as possible.
Re: France Plans 5% Digital Tax as Governments Chase Internet Giants
#7Couldn't we just ban tax evasion? What makes it so hard? (honest question) A recent European study has shown that the more company win money, the less they pay in taxes (in percentage). Is it because of bad laws? Corrupt politicians? Something else?
It's because for an international company there is really no clear cut way to say what is tax evasion and what is not. If your company is incorporated in France, has offices in Ireland and serves customers all over the world, how do you calculate where to pay what?
Sovereign countries are free to set their tax rate to 0 in order to attract companies there.
Re: France Plans 5% Digital Tax as Governments Chase Internet Giants
#8Couldn't we just ban tax evasion? What makes it so hard? (honest question) A recent European study has shown that the more company win money, the less they pay in taxes (in percentage). Is it because of bad laws? Corrupt politicians? Something else?
Tax evasion is already illegal.
Tax evasion is, but tax avoidance isn’t.
Re: France Plans 5% Digital Tax as Governments Chase Internet Giants
#9Might anyone have insights on why they're stopping at 5%? If the idea is to tax the internet giants on the business they do in France, why not seek to tax them at the usual corporate tax rate? The internet giants will, I presume, fight it either way, and it's not like a tax is going to stop them from serving French customers.
As I understood the article, this is a tax on sales, not profits.
To ddebernardy's point then, why not charge VAT?
Re: France Plans 5% Digital Tax as Governments Chase Internet Giants
#10Couldn't we just ban tax evasion? What makes it so hard? (honest question) A recent European study has shown that the more company win money, the less they pay in taxes (in percentage). Is it because of bad laws? Corrupt politicians? Something else?
It's because for an international company there is really no clear cut way to say what is tax evasion and what is not. If your company is incorporated in France, has offices in Ireland and serves customers all over the world, how do you calculate where to pay what? Sovereign countries are free to set their tax rate to 0 in order to attract companies there.
>Sovereign countries are free to set their tax rate to 0 in order to attract companies there.
Then those companies should only sell products and services in those countries. Otherwise, something should be done about it. I'm not saying it's easy, but it can be improved.