Earlier quoted context omitted.
The corp. tax loss is 10% Its becoming clearer that the world is shifting towards coordinated world-wide tax rates, similar to how central banks are coordinated. Modern trade is complex and almost always multinational. Clear and easy tax rates will actually allow anyone to enjoy fair taxation, instead of the current unequal situation in which megacorps can use complex schemes to drastically reduce their rates, while…
Tax rates are clear and easy. Corporations were taking advantage of loopholes that increasingly no longer exist.
40% of multinational profits are shifted to tax havens each year
101–110 of 167 posts
Re: 40% of multinational profits are shifted to tax havens each year
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is a good point, actually. Attributing the blame to an extreme minority of people (billionaires) is counter-productive. The problem is not their individual moral failings (however numerous) but the system that permits them to exist and incentivizes their parasitic and exploitative practices.
That extreme minority of people have a lot more power to influence the system than the common man. It makes one wonder how the system got to be the way it is in the first place.
Re: 40% of multinational profits are shifted to tax havens each year
#103Wow. Power , in all its forms -- economic, cultural, social, political -- is highly concentrated among impersonal giant corporations today. For this kind of legal tax avoidance would be impossible without mutual understanding, collaboration, and coordination across national boundaries among many disparate groups of people, all serving their corporate masters in one way or another (as their employers, as their custome…
There is a theory saying that Brexit campaign was financed by the people afraid of the EU banking transparency laws, that would threaten many UK-based tax havens.
Re: 40% of multinational profits are shifted to tax havens each year
#104Corporations already pay myriad income taxes and distributed profits (capital gains and dividends) are taxed, paid by the recipient. Corporate tax is double taxation and is inefficient. The optimal corporate tax rate is zero and I wish people would understand this. 35% corporate tax rate the US had before the tax cut was completely absurd and the only corps that paid it were small ones that didn’t have in house staff…
A point that I'd like to make is the government can be viewed as many things, but one of them is a provider of services: legal, military, diplomacy. These all cost a lot of money, and you are arguing that companies, who benefit most directly from those services, should not have to pay for them.
If the US spends, say, $2B enabling Shell's business interests, why shouldn't that price be built into the product? And before you say: you're an idiot, it would mean higher prices for consumers, yes, exactly. The cost of goods should be baked into its price.
Re: 40% of multinational profits are shifted to tax havens each year
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think paying taxes to the society you're profiting from is entirely reasonable. The problem is that corporations are free to profit in one country but declare those profits in another country. Corporations can do that but people can't. (What's even worse, US citizens (US "persons" even, you don't have to be a citizen for this) that live and work abroad and have nothing to do with the US, still have to pay their tax…
Another big issue with US taxes is that tax dollars aren't well spent. I'd be happy to pay the amount of taxes I'm currently paying in California if tax dollars were used well, but as it stands the public schools are underfunded, the highways are full of litter on the side, higher education isn't free, healthcare isn't universal, social security is underfunded, public transportation is dysfunctional, and so on.
Re: 40% of multinational profits are shifted to tax havens each year
#106I am fairly certain 40% of all citizens would shift their income to a tax haven if possible.
Re: 40% of multinational profits are shifted to tax havens each year
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
> What's even worse, US citizens (US "persons" even, you don't have to be a citizen for this) that live and work abroad and have nothing to do with the US, still have to pay their taxes there. That’s the price you pay to have the most powerful country in the world as a destination to which you can always retreat.
We are aware that is the price you have to pay. However "The United States is one of just two countries (the other being the African nation of Eritrea) that taxes individuals’ based on their citizenship".[1] That should at least give you pause to ask why, whether it is fair, and most importantly, if there is not a better solution to whatever problem this policy attempts to solve. [1] https://taxfoundation.org/how-cou…
Re: 40% of multinational profits are shifted to tax havens each year
#108Earlier quoted context omitted.
Another big issue with US taxes is that tax dollars aren't well spent. I'd be happy to pay the amount of taxes I'm currently paying in California if tax dollars were used well, but as it stands the public schools are underfunded, the highways are full of litter on the side, higher education isn't free, healthcare isn't universal, social security is underfunded, public transportation is dysfunctional, and so on.
When it comes to international corporate interest, American tax dollars are extremely well spent. The US State Department, Military, and to a degree, Intelligence Agencies do everything they can to compel favorable treatment for large American companies from every other country. I guess it's possible that large companies have outgrown the need for US Government support internationally and figure its cheaper and more…
Re: 40% of multinational profits are shifted to tax havens each year
#109Corporations being able to book their profits wherever they find it most convenient to book them, is utterly unreasonable. They make their profits in specific markets, and should be paying their taxes there. Profits made from selling in the US should be paid in the US, profits made from selling in Germany should be paid there. The problem is, profits are the end result of a lot of complex corporate operations across…
Re: 40% of multinational profits are shifted to tax havens each year
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
A consumption tax (a tax on sales) is proportional to your lifestyle. If someone chooses to buy a gas guzzler v8, they should pay taxes on the gallons they burn to pay for roads and emissions. Consumption tax is also easier to be set to a geographic location, and harder to shift to different tax jurisdiction. Harder to play games in comparison to an income tax. But nobody wants it. Very unpopular in a vote because, p…
Consumption taxes are also regressive in that in the lower your income, the harder those taxes become to pay. I would prefer a tax scheme in which you're ability to pay the tax is proportional to the taxes you owe.