Tax System in the Faroe Islands • Hacker News Board

Re: Tax System in the Faroe Islands

#101

Post by moeffju » Mon, Jan 09, 2023, 1:27 PM UTC

rmnwski wrote: post #7

messe wrote: post #2

> “When the year is over, almost everybody ends up with ‘Oh, it’s correct. I don’t have to pay any more, and I don’t get any money back,’” said Mørkøre. Continuous collection also eliminates the time risk of the government losing out on tax payments if companies go bankrupt before TAKS could cash their checks. Is this not normal in most of Europe? In Ireland, I've found it's usually only off by a few cent at most, wh…

In Germany it’s a complicated bureaucratic mess and people often get can get a lot back but of course not always.

If you're employed and only have one job, it's actually pretty easy - in fact you don't have to do anything. For many if not most people in Germany, filing taxes is pretty much optional.

Re: Tax System in the Faroe Islands

#102

Post by geysersam » Mon, Jan 09, 2023, 2:03 PM UTC

notahacker wrote: post #100

geysersam wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Software systems generally benefit from economies of scale. So do financial institutions. Their tax system is simple enough to be automated to a larger extent than the IRS. Not sure why this would be controversial at all. You're basically arguing that the more complex system of the IRS is 10x more efficient (population/budget) at 1000x the scale, but that the efficiency is unrelated to economies of scale. It just mak…

I'm not actually arguing the IRS is 10x more efficient at all (the Faroes' costs are in krone), I'm arguing that its per head spend isn't that much larger considering it handles a lot more complexity and it's seldom regarded as an efficient organization. It's also fairly uncontroversial that labour intensive stuff like auditing businesses and running helpdesks doesn't benefit from particularly significant economies o…

> I'm not actually arguing the IRS is 10x more efficient at all (the Faroes' costs are in krone), I'm arguing that its per head spend isn't that much larger

According to the numbers mentioned above the per head spend of IRS is 3-5x smaller than the Faroe island equivalent. (Taking into account the currency difference.)

That despite the IRS handling a much more complex system.

How do you explain that?

Re: Tax System in the Faroe Islands

#103

Post by someguydave » Mon, Jan 09, 2023, 2:38 PM UTC

memling wrote: post #98

someguydave wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe the US could stop taxing labor and investment and simply tax consumption (sales tax). That would simplify everything.

This is simpler but tends to favor the wealthy because such taxes do not impose the same burden proportionately. Moreover the poor rarely invest--I think 401k uptake is only 50% in the US?--and would in present circumstances be challenged to do so. Maybe incentives would change for them under a new system. Another difficulty is that investment income grows over time and governments stand to lose a great deal if they…

1. some basic needs like food and clothing could be exempt from sales taxes, like it is today in many US states.

2. Taxes should only grow in relation to the growth of identifiable government needs. There is no reason that the government ought to grow linearly in proportion to the net wealth of the country.

Re: Tax System in the Faroe Islands

#104

Post by beej71 » Mon, Jan 09, 2023, 3:32 PM UTC

ausbah wrote: post #40

beej71 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I still do taxes myself, including itemization and SE. Free fillable forms gets me e-file. If there's ever anything in unsure of, I hire an independent tax person to do it. Then if I have to do it again, I use that as a template. Another option is a lot of these places allow you to compute the results without paying, and you can use that to check your work. Overall, a royal pain in the ass, but at least t…

in most cases it's pointless for people to file their own taxes. governments already n ke their income streams and can tax appropriately at the source. just the idea of people having to do their own taxes represents those "fuckers" taking your time away

Oh, I agree. But at least they can't bottom-line my time.

Re: Tax System in the Faroe Islands

#105

Post by spiralx » Tue, Jan 10, 2023, 3:51 PM UTC

throwawaylinux wrote: post #85

tokai wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think I read that they are planning to start lowering the financial support from Denmark this year. But only by a small bit. With no concrete plan of weaning fully of it. So the end of the union still is far off it seems. As long as Greenland wants support they should get it, as they really need it, but the Faroe Islands should have been on-track for independence a long time ago imo.

> As long as Greenland wants support they should get it, as they really need it What is the reasoning there?

Greenland is a massive untapped mineral resource and important geostrategic asset that Denmark owns and having a few small-ish settlements there costing them very little money helps maintain sovereignty.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/01/business/greenland-minera...