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Activision Blizzard has moved billions of dollars of profit into tax havens

taxwatchuk.org

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Re: Activision Blizzard has moved billions of dollars of profit into tax havens

#171

Post by Tsagadai »

FDSGSG wrote: post #6

It's downright ridiculous to complain about companies taking perfectly legal steps to reduce their tax burden. As the oft-quoted US judge Learned Hand said: > Anyone may arrange his affairs so that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which best pays the treasury. There is not even a patriotic duty to increase one's taxes. Over and over again the Courts have said that there is…

Consider it from a bureaucratic efficiency perspective instead then, if the rules are too broad and there are too many exemptions then the cost of gathering taxes increases. The government should aim for a simpler system that is more efficient (so that it can pass on the cost saving in having an efficient tax system on as reduced taxation if you are a neoliberal believer).

It isn't economically beneficial for people to spend vast sums on creative accountancy in order to minimise their taxation. Tax minimisation encourages investment in areas that do not promote growth or bring new products to market. Yes, there is a personal or individual corporate reward for avoiding tax but there are significant economic downsides too. Tax havens allow corruption, terrorism and organised crime to flourish giving them a way to siphon funds around which is a massive societal detriment.

Re: Activision Blizzard has moved billions of dollars of profit into tax havens

#172

Post by hartator »

chillwaves wrote: post #165
hartator wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some of us believe digital shouldn’t tax at all. Despite us using electricity. Invalidating all your points.

What is the argument against taxes on digital goods? How does it differ from a broader argument against taxes?

Why tax something that provides only positive value without using local ressources.

Re: Activision Blizzard has moved billions of dollars of profit into tax havens

#173

Post by TheSpiceIsLife »

karlp wrote: post #145
TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't make the mistake of equating paying more tax with the betterment of society. I think it was PJ O'Rourke who said something like giving money and power to politicians is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.

Well, I don't know if you have seen the places where politicians have neither money nor power, but it's not pretty.

Where’s the evidence to suggest repatriating these huge sums of money will be used to improve society?

Where’s the evidence to suggest the money would be used to build public transport, improve the education system, reduce poverty, build more public / affordable housing?

The preponderance of evidence suggests any and all of these things would be poorly managed, massively over budget, and approximately a decade behind schedule.

Re: Activision Blizzard has moved billions of dollars of profit into tax havens

#174

Post by 0_gravitas »

FDSGSG wrote: post #30
CogitoCogito wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The problem isn't with the corporations, the problem (if it exists at all!) may be with the legislation. > Complain about the law. Do you not suppose that these large corporations with so much money at stake do not in fact use their resources to ensure that laws take their current form? Do believe they are somehow innocent actors in this drama?

I'm absolutely sure Activision Blizzard (a relatively small company) had no significant impact on how these laws were written.

ActiBliz is "small" compared to companies like Verizon and comcast etc.. but dont be under the delusion that they dont have capital to make things happen, they're one of the big 3 western game companies (I would say the other two are probably EA and Take Two Int.) with the biggest MMO still alive and kicking (along with other well selling IPs). This industry isnt incapable of touching legislation, one of the biggest thing in the industry right now is EA's legal conquest of keeping lootboxes (or "surprise mechanics" as they call it) in games legal.

Re: Activision Blizzard has moved billions of dollars of profit into tax havens

#175

Post by IG_Semmelweiss »

Fnoord wrote: post #124
FDSGSG wrote: post #6

It's downright ridiculous to complain about companies taking perfectly legal steps to reduce their tax burden. As the oft-quoted US judge Learned Hand said: > Anyone may arrange his affairs so that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which best pays the treasury. There is not even a patriotic duty to increase one's taxes. Over and over again the Courts have said that there is…

> It's downright ridiculous to complain about companies taking perfectly legal steps to reduce their tax burden. How ironic that you had to post (as of now) 24 times in this very thread defending this condescending viewpoint. You're not at all addressing what the article mentions. I'll address what the article mentions. The article (quite clearly, in bold) mentions, at the top: > The company is currently under invest…

I dont think you understand very much TP rules.

These rules themselves were created by the very people that now attack them. The logic is that any government doesnt get to tax what is not locally sourced.

So ok, a game is not created in the UK, and it does not benefit from the HRMC jurisdiction in terms of labor etx. But it generates oodles of cash in sales in the UK.

So now they are coming back and saying that, the cost of generating the sales in the UK is higher, not because of some actual physical activity, but simply because their sales are too high.

This ia basically a mafia don saying you are doing too good and therefore we must have a larger piece of the pie. Yet the dons themselves are the one that made the rules and made them necessarily obtuse and subjective in order to charge for things (a) that do not create value and (b) keep them employed

Re: Activision Blizzard has moved billions of dollars of profit into tax havens

#176

Post by orf »

hartator wrote: post #172
chillwaves wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the argument against taxes on digital goods? How does it differ from a broader argument against taxes?

Why tax something that provides only positive value without using local ressources.

Only positive value? That's quite naive.

Re: Activision Blizzard has moved billions of dollars of profit into tax havens

#177

Post by lostlogin »

hartator wrote: post #172
chillwaves wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the argument against taxes on digital goods? How does it differ from a broader argument against taxes?

Why tax something that provides only positive value without using local ressources.

Why not apply that to teachers and doctors etc?

Re: Activision Blizzard has moved billions of dollars of profit into tax havens

#178

Post by j88439h84 »

lukevdp wrote: post #108
deogeo wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who do you think lobbies for such laws?

Politicians don’t have to listen to lobbyists. The blame lies with politicians.

What happens to politicians who don't listen to lobbyists? Do they win reelection?

Re: Activision Blizzard has moved billions of dollars of profit into tax havens

#179

Post by julbaxter »

hartator wrote: post #172
chillwaves wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the argument against taxes on digital goods? How does it differ from a broader argument against taxes?

Why tax something that provides only positive value without using local ressources.

Electricity (energy) is a resource.

Re: Activision Blizzard has moved billions of dollars of profit into tax havens

#180

Post by Danieru »

andrewprock wrote: post #102
refurb wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think it’s a few. Did you put money in a 401k? Did you buy a house and calculate the tax deduction? Did you hold onto a stock so you’d get the lower long term capital gains rate? Did you contribute to an HSA or FSA? The majority of people make decisions that optimize their tax rate.

If you think minimizing your tax rate starts and ends with line items on the 1040, you are not minimizing your tax rate. Not by a long shot.

It is double think to call the act of minimizing the state of having achieved the absolute minimum while still using the word to describe corporations which are indeed paying more than the absolute minimum.

You are being dishonest in discourse to use that word with different definitions depending on who you apply it to. Either regular people are minimizing taxes when they use rules to reduce taxes, and thus so are corporations. Or neither regular people nor corporations are minimizing taxes because neither has achieved the absolute minimum.

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