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Spain planning on going ahead with ‘Google tax’ despite US tariff threats

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Re: Spain planning on going ahead with ‘Google tax’ despite US tariff threats

#131

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

nwellnhof wrote: post #122
seibelj wrote: post #82

IMO the corporate tax rate should be zero, and then everyone would be on the same playing field. Right now the only companies that pay taxes are small ones without the resources and staff to get around it. With 0% corporate tax, all of these games and shenanigans would end. Also, corporate profits are double-taxed anyway, as taxes are paid once on profits then again as dividends / capital gains by the shareholders. T…

I agree that corporate taxes aren't strictly required. They are useful though, if you think about international capital markets. Without corporate taxes, foreign investors could extract all profits from a company, without paying any income tax in its country of residence. You are right about double taxation, but you can think of corporate tax as a part of income tax that is guaranteed to benefit the country where the…

I don't want my fire engines used to protect someone's property who isn't paying to support them.

Re: Spain planning on going ahead with ‘Google tax’ despite US tariff threats

#132

Post by tonyedgecombe »

vixen99 wrote: post #66
tonyedgecombe wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I know. They are socialists so they don't care if blue collar workers suffer just so they can "send a message". The Conservatives in the UK are planning a similar tax, they are certainly not a socialist party.

A fair number of Conservatives would take issue with that statement! And they have a damn good case.

That they aren't socialists or are planning the tax?

Re: Spain planning on going ahead with ‘Google tax’ despite US tariff threats

#133

Post by jbduler »

jacquesm wrote: post #67
jbduler wrote: post #22

For me it makes total sense to tax Google, Facebook and all others. Why not? What do you to lose? Parking your IP in some remote country, be it Ireland or Turks and Caicos, is fine until you realize that the IP protection is not as bullet proof as you thought. And please don't come to California to sue to protect your IP. I still can't believe that none of those companies are paying Federal nor state taxes. For now.…

This has absolutely nothing to do with IP but everything to do with the delivery of services which are free, supplemented by advertising income accounted for abroad where it can not be taxed by the country where the service was delivered. Looked at in a different way: if Google was a paid for service you could levy sales tax on that service.

Yes, taxes are related to IP of course. Parking your IP in a country where you have a super low tax rate guarantees paying no or very little taxes using transfer pricing shenanigans back to your home office.

Re: Spain planning on going ahead with ‘Google tax’ despite US tariff threats

#134

Post by gorgoiler »

This feels like a battle between governments, and I’m glad to hear OECD are involved.

Corporation tax feels like it should be agreed between nations, not between individual nations and corporations. The Google multinationals of this world expect to pay a certain amount in corporation tax but right now too much of that is concentrated in the US and Ireland. Of course the US government is tied — it doesn’t want to give up the giant share of the pie it currently has, and would lose out on if some of that went to Spain instead.

It’s right that it should be a shared source of revenue between all countries in which the multinational operates, but I think a new kind of tax is the wrong way of going about it when corporation tax reform could solve the same issue and be more generally useful.

Payroll tax — a significant source of government tax revenue spread around the world, when a corporation has expanded worldwide — is distributed fairly in this way already.

Re: Spain planning on going ahead with ‘Google tax’ despite US tariff threats

#135

Post by Mirioron »

dangerface wrote: post #60
vector_rotcev wrote: post #32

As a non-economist (amateur or professional), I get the impression that countries are losing their concern of the repercussions of displeasing the USA economically. Is this an accurate interpretation? If so, is it that they're less fearful of reprisals (tariffs?) or that they're less confident in the benefits of cooperation with the USA? Or a mix? Or something else?

Europeans like me like America because they are very vocal about freedom and liberty but we are waking up to the reality that it's all talk. The USA behaves like Russia and China, they spy on foreigners, influence their elections, start unjustified wars for oil and generally have a very low regard for freedom and liberty outside of their soil. USA are not the good guys and Russia and China are not the bad guys they a…

At least Americans are vocal about it. Here in Europe we seem to have just given up on freedom and liberty. Just look at how many limitations freedom of expression seems to have in various European countries. Imagine being fined for insulting the president (happened in France). Furthermore, European countries fight wars just like the Americans do (Libya), we bully poor countries into trade deals as well (EPA and Kenya). At least the Americans pretend...

Re: Spain planning on going ahead with ‘Google tax’ despite US tariff threats

#137

Post by lexs »

ixtis7 wrote: post #102
gorgoiler wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taxes redistribute wealth from areas of surplus to areas of need. If one lives alone forever in a log cabin one might indeed never need anything from the government. However, if you need the police to help you, you are already getting something back. If someone else needs the police and the police catch the criminal who would have made you their next target, you are getting a benefit. Now scale that up to the whole c…

I agree that it's silly to say that you don't benefit from government spending at all. On the other hand there is often a real sense of not getting what you put in. I imagine especially so on a forum like this where many are professionals of certain industries with relatively high pay. For example: public spending per person in the UK is Of course, my cost to society will rise as I get older, but on average I would e…

You might not have children but you do benefit from other people having children, just because you don't "take" as much as you're paying doesn't mean you don't indirectly benefit from the effects it has on society.

Re: Spain planning on going ahead with ‘Google tax’ despite US tariff threats

#138

Post by kazagistar »

balfirevic wrote: post #85
jacquesm wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has absolutely nothing to do with IP but everything to do with the delivery of services which are free, supplemented by advertising income accounted for abroad where it can not be taxed by the country where the service was delivered. Looked at in a different way: if Google was a paid for service you could levy sales tax on that service.

But Google earns it's money from selling ads. If they are selling those ads to business in EU, the mechanics (and taxation) seem to be the same as (for example) a US graphic design company selling logo design services to businesses in EU. What exactly is new here? Is it just the size (and wealth) of Google and similar companies that has encouraged the governments to try to take a larger slice of pie?

Companies are always going to find ways to avoid taxes and privatize more profits to fewer and fewer individuals. It's the responsibility of the government to find those loopholes and get them to pay a fair share to maintain the society they exploit for that profit.

Re: Spain planning on going ahead with ‘Google tax’ despite US tariff threats

#139

Post by buboard »

seibelj wrote: post #82

IMO the corporate tax rate should be zero, and then everyone would be on the same playing field. Right now the only companies that pay taxes are small ones without the resources and staff to get around it. With 0% corporate tax, all of these games and shenanigans would end. Also, corporate profits are double-taxed anyway, as taxes are paid once on profits then again as dividends / capital gains by the shareholders. T…

corporations can always find loopholes to siphon money to shareholders , that's the core issue. Corporations shouldn't exist - ultimately profits and liabilities should be shared personally by each individual investor.

Re: Spain planning on going ahead with ‘Google tax’ despite US tariff threats

#140

Post by qaq »

KAMSPioneer wrote: post #111
dangerface wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Europeans like me like America because they are very vocal about freedom and liberty but we are waking up to the reality that it's all talk. The USA behaves like Russia and China, they spy on foreigners, influence their elections, start unjustified wars for oil and generally have a very low regard for freedom and liberty outside of their soil. USA are not the good guys and Russia and China are not the bad guys they a…

> Europeans like me like America because they are very vocal about freedom and liberty but we are waking up to the reality that it's all talk. > The USA behaves like Russia and China, they spy on foreigners, influence their elections, start unjustified wars for oil and generally have a very low regard for freedom and liberty outside of their soil. As a natural-born US citizen...Yeah I feel the same way. I feel like m…

It's pretty much every country though. All countries act in self interest with little regard to others it's just more noticeable with large countries.
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