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It is not the case at all. Yes the biggest tech giants that do not pay enough tax are mostly from the US (also other companies from other countries are affected too)
But it is not because they are from the US that this new tax is created. It is simply because they don't pay enough tax
Interestingly, the only recent French tech company to be even remotely globally relevant (Criteo), is also affected. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companies_of_France is a good list to look at. There is only one other software/internet company founded in France since 2000 in the 'Notable' list - 360Learning. About a third of the list was founded before 1900. A very different list than what you'd see in the US…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> company that's selling ads to a French company that wants to show those ads to French users is doing business in France, end of story. yeah, so taxes make sense to pay for the roads, bridges and healthcare that these ads are using.
Given the effect of social networking products on mental health, in this light it absolutely makes sense for countries with nationalized healthcare to tax big tech
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Does that mean that EU citizens should also pay for these services? Or do you expect these companies would continue to operate in the EU with no net profit.
Yes, they should. FB doesn't want to get taxed? Create a non-tracking version and paywall it, I would actually pay for that myself.
I never understood the logic behind taxing large internet businesses. The idea behind taxes is that you use some public resource and you pay for that service. You own a home in a neighborhood, you pay property tax that funds the schools. You drive a car, you pay gasoline tax that funds the streets. You hire workers locally, you pay the tax to pay back all the contributions public institutions made to adding the skill…
If you want to tax and regulate Facebook, etc., I think the argument is much less clear, especially if those regulations are just going to cement Facebook's position against possible newcomers.
I never understood the logic behind taxing large internet businesses. The idea behind taxes is that you use some public resource and you pay for that service. You own a home in a neighborhood, you pay property tax that funds the schools. You drive a car, you pay gasoline tax that funds the streets. You hire workers locally, you pay the tax to pay back all the contributions public institutions made to adding the skill…
off the top of my head, I'm sure there are lots more:
- a large set of well-off consumers who got there because of free public education, parental supports, et cetera
- a safe society so drop shipping is possible
- roads & infrastructure for shipping
- a justice system that protects Amazon from cheating buyers and sellers
- a stable, accepted currency
- no need for large numbers of armed guards at warehouses, protecting shipments, et cetera
- a functioning health & welfare system so can get away with paying employees & contractors peanuts
- a pool of employees and contractors who were supported by society growing up
and much more, I'm sure.
I never understood the logic behind taxing large internet businesses. The idea behind taxes is that you use some public resource and you pay for that service. You own a home in a neighborhood, you pay property tax that funds the schools. You drive a car, you pay gasoline tax that funds the streets. You hire workers locally, you pay the tax to pay back all the contributions public institutions made to adding the skill…
All money made on the white market in any country is facilitated by that government, and taxes are paid on all profits to pay for the services which allowed the profit to be made.
>The other theories of taxation is that it should be used to raise revenue from the best means possible. I disagree with that framework but applying taxes arbitrarily hardly seems fair or the best way to raise revenue.
It's not arbitrary to expect businesses to pay for services they benefit from.
Good. Next step, have EU countries come up with an estimation of the value of their citizens' private data that FB and Google gobbles up and tax them on that too. Edit: companies -> countries
Why not google and FB pay the users directly?
I just hope the US does not "retaliate" on this. EU entrepreneurs are too dependent on US businesses.