It matters who is not in. Cyprus doesn’t seem to be on the list, along with many others. All it takes is one country to make this irrelevant.
Ireland joins OECD International Tax agreement
61–70 of 384 posts
Re: Ireland joins OECD International Tax agreement
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
Governments want to tax profits rather than revenues. A tax on revenues would kill a lot of high growth businesses.
>A tax on revenues would kill a lot of high growth businesses And also low-margin businesses. If you tax a business on its total sales rather than profits, a low-margin and high-volume operation cannot survive as easily. Example. A supermarket chain makes many sales, collecting average 5% margins on a sale. A seller of high-end automobiles moves fewer units, but can take a 15% margin. Assume both businesses make the…
That’s assuming there is competition from companies that can avoid the tax, otherwise their margins stay the same and the industry ends up with higher prices. In effect it’s roughly equivalent to sales tax, though one that also applies to suppliers and therefore promotes vertical integration.
Which is the real reason countries tax profits, it can’t be passed on to consumers. Aka a company that maximized profits at some price point can’t raise prices without lowering profits.
Re: Ireland joins OECD International Tax agreement
#63I've always been baffled as to how this is seen as a multi-national issue. The US could always implement unilateral minimum VAT and profit[3] taxes on corporations forcing them to effectively pay whatever proportion the US demands to continue doing business in the world's largest consumer market. Just because you're only paying 3%[1] profit[3] tax in Bermuda doesn't mean you can necessarily skate around the remaining…
That would violate a bunch of treaties. Also, what would stop other countries (or the EU) from doing the same thing?
Re: Ireland joins OECD International Tax agreement
#64I have never understood the whole "tax the rich" idea and I am not rich, don't own a house or car or stocks or anything expensive. When and how will the taxes help you and me? The money just ends up going to a black hole for the government to spent inefficiently. And if you are in the US, the money gets spent on funding the military industrial complex for bombing more countries, regime changes, intelligence agencies,…
> When and how will the taxes help you and me?
In the US? On our 65th birthdays. Military spending is big, but Medicare is bigger.
Re: Ireland joins OECD International Tax agreement
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you mention Berlin and Paris, then also Amsterdam and Warsaw deserve mentions.
Warsaw? We’re becoming the Texas of Europe, more than a little unpalatable.
>” We’re becoming the Texas of Europe”
In what way? A ton of businesses are moving to Texas for more favorable tax treatment, fewer regulations, and lower cost of living. Is that a happening with Poland, too?
Re: Ireland joins OECD International Tax agreement
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
(I'm not in the US, and agree that that's a disgraceful list.) Inefficient compared to what? What is your proposed alternative? > When and how will the taxes help you and me? Well.. for example, you use roads I assume.
The vast majority of roads are managed at the state and local level. The overall expenditure for roads at the federal level is a very small portion of the budget.
> managed at the state and local level
Paid for with money raised from ... tax
Re: Ireland joins OECD International Tax agreement
#67Re: Ireland joins OECD International Tax agreement
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why? It's a perfectly fine comment on the topic of taxes.
There's no way it's a genuine comment from somebody that has given the topic enough of a passing thought to actually comment on it. The sheer number of things everybody interacts with everyday that are very directly related to tax-funded government actions is immense, and very blatantly so. Yet they lead with "what have taxes ever done for anybody?" It's not a genuine or honest comment.
To me it seems like a honest criticism on the inefficiency of government allocation of tax payer's money. There's nothing wrong with voicing your opinions that way.
I feel that people just don't like it if someone disagrees with "taxing the rich", and that's why it was flagged.
Re: Ireland joins OECD International Tax agreement
#69I have never understood the whole "tax the rich" idea and I am not rich, don't own a house or car or stocks or anything expensive. When and how will the taxes help you and me? The money just ends up going to a black hole for the government to spent inefficiently. And if you are in the US, the money gets spent on funding the military industrial complex for bombing more countries, regime changes, intelligence agencies,…
Here's a short list of things tax money funds: Roads Schools Healthcare (in civilized countries) Making sure companies selling medicine aren't killing people Making sure companies don't dump toxic waste into rivers and lakes Note that comparing Walmart vs the government is especially funny since most of Warlmart's expansion comes from the fact that it under-pays it's workers so much that the federal government has to…
That might be true in some countries, but in the USA it goes to the military, farmers to make GMO soya beans & corn syrup, and other random corporations.
Re: Ireland joins OECD International Tax agreement
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah because governments use those funds so effectively. It’s why when I look around the U.S. at the trillions we spent over the last two decades and I see... well looks pretty much the same as the 90s honestly
Sorry, because governments spend money inefficiently we should just allow rampant corruption? That's an insanely fatalist view to take.
Government is the primary enabler of corruption in the first place. Don't know how it is in Ireland, but in the United States I can't really see it serving any other function at the moment. It abdicated all its responsibilities entirely, and for the past several decades it's been working only for its donors, not constituents. I would be surprised if Ireland is any better.