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Facebook agrees to pay France €106M in back taxes

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Facebook agrees to pay France €106M in back taxes

#11

Post by burtonator »

0xy wrote: post #9

Here's an interesting truth that many of you might not know. When you're a large multinational company or a very high net worth individual, then taxes aren't really an objective calculation. The tax code in most countries, despite being tens of thousands of pages of legalese, are extremely subjective. This subjective and loose language allow for innumerable loopholes and tax dodges. If you're using these creative met…

> innumerable loopholes and tax dodges.

... a better way to look at these are backdoors explicitly added for billionaires and corporations to exploit.

You and I have to pay taxes. Large corporations and billionaires do not (not effectively)

Re: Facebook agrees to pay France €106M in back taxes

#12

Post by mickael-kerjean »

throwawaynothx wrote: post #7
syoussry wrote: post #5

As a French citizen, I also "agreed" to pay my taxes last year :). I even paid the full amount I was being claimed. How generous of me.

Just curious, if you don't pay your taxes for 10 years as a citizen what happens? do you get arrested at some point?

They will get it from your bank account. That's what happened to me over a parking ticket a few years ago as I parked in a spot reserved to the national train company. I refused to pay as the amount was 4 times over what it would cost to park in a disable spot which I did find unfair from a morale standpoint. After some time, they took the money from my bank account.

Re: Facebook agrees to pay France €106M in back taxes

#13

Post by refurb »

burtonator wrote: post #11
0xy wrote: post #9

Here's an interesting truth that many of you might not know. When you're a large multinational company or a very high net worth individual, then taxes aren't really an objective calculation. The tax code in most countries, despite being tens of thousands of pages of legalese, are extremely subjective. This subjective and loose language allow for innumerable loopholes and tax dodges. If you're using these creative met…

> innumerable loopholes and tax dodges. ... a better way to look at these are backdoors explicitly added for billionaires and corporations to exploit. You and I have to pay taxes. Large corporations and billionaires do not (not effectively)

Got an example of one of these “backdoors explicitly added for billionaires to exploit”?

Re: Facebook agrees to pay France €106M in back taxes

#14

Post by refurb »

adventured wrote: post #2

Let me just check. $27.9 billion in operating income the prior four quarters. $58.2 billion in cash. It appears they will be able to afford the taxes.

Luckily we don’t determine the amount of tax you owe based on how much cash you have on hand!

Re: Facebook agrees to pay France €106M in back taxes

#15

Post by wsc981 »

throwawaynothx wrote: post #7
syoussry wrote: post #5

As a French citizen, I also "agreed" to pay my taxes last year :). I even paid the full amount I was being claimed. How generous of me.

Just curious, if you don't pay your taxes for 10 years as a citizen what happens? do you get arrested at some point?

I'm sure it depends on the country. In The Netherlands one could be sent to prison for tax evasion [0].

---

[0]: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/124710/Netherlands%20...

Re: Facebook agrees to pay France €106M in back taxes

#16

Post by harmoat »

mickael-kerjean wrote: post #12
throwawaynothx wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just curious, if you don't pay your taxes for 10 years as a citizen what happens? do you get arrested at some point?

They will get it from your bank account. That's what happened to me over a parking ticket a few years ago as I parked in a spot reserved to the national train company. I refused to pay as the amount was 4 times over what it would cost to park in a disable spot which I did find unfair from a morale standpoint. After some time, they took the money from my bank account.

In France, they can also take it from your salary.

Re: Facebook agrees to pay France €106M in back taxes

#17

Post by bergstromm466 »

smabie wrote: post #4
adventured wrote: post #2

Let me just check. $27.9 billion in operating income the prior four quarters. $58.2 billion in cash. It appears they will be able to afford the taxes.

I don't think anyone was the under the impression that they would be unable to afford the taxes.

Do you believe legal loopholes and tax avoidance is not an issue?

Re: Facebook agrees to pay France €106M in back taxes

#18

Post by bergstromm466 »

tareqak wrote: post #6
jagged-chisel wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

About a Euro and a half per French citizen. Good on France...

> Facebook has agreed to pay the French government €106m (£95.7m) in back taxes to settle a dispute over revenues earned in the country. > > The payment covers the last decade of its French operations from 2009. For the last 10 years

What a joke. American tech companies are parasites.

Re: Facebook agrees to pay France €106M in back taxes

#19

Post by bergstromm466 »

refurb wrote: post #14
adventured wrote: post #2

Let me just check. $27.9 billion in operating income the prior four quarters. $58.2 billion in cash. It appears they will be able to afford the taxes.

Luckily we don’t determine the amount of tax you owe based on how much cash you have on hand!

Why wouldn't we? They've used legal loopholes to dodge taxes, and the result of that is a lot of 'cash on hand'...

Re: Facebook agrees to pay France €106M in back taxes

#20

Post by rayhendricks »

refurb wrote: post #13
burtonator wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> innumerable loopholes and tax dodges. ... a better way to look at these are backdoors explicitly added for billionaires and corporations to exploit. You and I have to pay taxes. Large corporations and billionaires do not (not effectively)

Got an example of one of these “backdoors explicitly added for billionaires to exploit”?

I’m not an accountant or tax lawyer but here you go:

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/102515/carri...

Carried interest is a share of a private equity or fund's profits that serve as compensation for fund managers. Because carried interest is considered a return on investment, it is taxed at a capital gains rate, and not an income rate. Critics argue that this is a tax loophole since portfolio managers get paid from that money, which is not taxed as income. Advocates of carried interest argue that it incentivizes the management of companies and funds to profitability.

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