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Uber used 50 Dutch shell companies to dodge taxes on $6B in revenue

businessinsider.com.au

11–20 of 431 posts

Re: Uber used 50 Dutch shell companies to dodge taxes on $6B in revenue

#11
Instead of blaming the corporations for having good attorneys and accountants how about we simplify corporate taxes and close the loopholes? The previous administration tried to do it, but quite honestly I don't think democrats have any interest in simplifying taxes. Their platform seems to be blame corporations for not paying their fair share, while wealthy democrats utilize loopholes and intentional tax complexity for their own gain.

Re: Uber used 50 Dutch shell companies to dodge taxes on $6B in revenue

#12
post #10

Companies pay taxes on profits not on revenue. This is meaningless outragebait.

While that is true (depending on the jurisdiction), I find it weird that this is so readily acceptable when talking about a corporation when all of us are taxed on our income before it even reaches our bank account.

Re: Uber used 50 Dutch shell companies to dodge taxes on $6B in revenue

#13
post #6

I don't fully understand the part about Dutch shell companies, but it seems perfectly believable that Uber would have $6B in revenue and still operate at a loss (and owe no income taxes). Isn't that the big criticism of Uber's business model -- that they can't turn a profit at rates people are willing to pay while also compensating drivers?

Well Travis got paid...

Re: Uber used 50 Dutch shell companies to dodge taxes on $6B in revenue

#14
post #6

I don't fully understand the part about Dutch shell companies, but it seems perfectly believable that Uber would have $6B in revenue and still operate at a loss (and owe no income taxes). Isn't that the big criticism of Uber's business model -- that they can't turn a profit at rates people are willing to pay while also compensating drivers?

This begs the question of what purpose the shell companies serve.

Re: Uber used 50 Dutch shell companies to dodge taxes on $6B in revenue

#15
post #12
post #10

Companies pay taxes on profits not on revenue. This is meaningless outragebait.

While that is true (depending on the jurisdiction), I find it weird that this is so readily acceptable when talking about a corporation when all of us are taxed on our income before it even reaches our bank account.

If it's more fair to tax profits than revenues, we should be advocating for individuals to be treated in the more fair way, rather than advocating for corporations to be treated in the less fair way, don't you think?

Besides, corporations generally have outside sources of funding other than income, while people generally don't. Thus corporations can run at a deficit, sometimes for a long time, while they figure out how to turn a profit. Do you think there's really a societal benefit to drive new businesses into bankruptcy before they get their footing by taxing them while they're losing money?

Re: Uber used 50 Dutch shell companies to dodge taxes on $6B in revenue

#16
post #3

Large multinational Corp takes advantage of legal tax loopholes. Nothing new here.

You forgot the added icing of "new kid on the block company wanting to disrupt the world uses good old scam technology to evade taxes".

Gotta give credit to travis, we all appreciate respect for traditions

Re: Uber used 50 Dutch shell companies to dodge taxes on $6B in revenue

#17
post #12
post #10

Companies pay taxes on profits not on revenue. This is meaningless outragebait.

While that is true (depending on the jurisdiction), I find it weird that this is so readily acceptable when talking about a corporation when all of us are taxed on our income before it even reaches our bank account.

One way to look at it is that all corporate income is ‘capital gains’, and taxed more like capital gains than wage income.

Re: Uber used 50 Dutch shell companies to dodge taxes on $6B in revenue

#18
post #6

I don't fully understand the part about Dutch shell companies, but it seems perfectly believable that Uber would have $6B in revenue and still operate at a loss (and owe no income taxes). Isn't that the big criticism of Uber's business model -- that they can't turn a profit at rates people are willing to pay while also compensating drivers?

Different countries/jurisdictions have very different tax laws. Not all of them tax based on profit alone.

Re: Uber used 50 Dutch shell companies to dodge taxes on $6B in revenue

#19
> Uber transfered its intellectual property through a $16 billion “loan” from one of its subsidiaries in Singapore that in turn owns one of Uber’s Dutch shell companies, a manuever that grants the company a $1 billion tax break every year for the next 20 years, the researchers found.

Shit like this makes my head hurt and infuriates me at the same time.

Re: Uber used 50 Dutch shell companies to dodge taxes on $6B in revenue

#20
post #6

I don't fully understand the part about Dutch shell companies, but it seems perfectly believable that Uber would have $6B in revenue and still operate at a loss (and owe no income taxes). Isn't that the big criticism of Uber's business model -- that they can't turn a profit at rates people are willing to pay while also compensating drivers?

This begs the question of what purpose the shell companies serve.

Maybe revenue laundering using borrowed credit? I wouldn't be surprised if some day we discover that many corporations the tech space have been engaged in some kind of global credit laundering scheme using shell companies as a filter to systematically separate credit from debt in order to generate artificial revenue for big tech corporations... Money extracted straight from the big banks.

They should refer to this scheme as a 'Clam farming' because they just load up the shell companies with bank loans then extract the meat and toss away the shell.

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