Sweden proposes ban on ride-sharing services that make profits • Hacker News Board

Re: Sweden proposes ban on ride-sharing services that make profits

#211

Post by _andromeda_ » Fri, Dec 02, 2016, 8:02 AM UTC

Ma8ee wrote: post #150

zzzzzzzzzman wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I appreciate your response and POV :) Why can we not assume that the doctor monkey is operating a private medical practice, his daughter is sent to a private monkey school, and they drove together in a privately produced car on privately maintained roads? In the USA, I pay income taxes, and I still have to pay for all of these things above (fees, fines, tolls, surcharges, sales tax...)

That is called Starve the Beast and has been the strategy of the right for decades. It goes like this: Use a slight budget deficit as an excuse to immediately cut back on services and infrastructure investments. Never raise taxes. If there's no deficit, lower the taxes on the rich while promising 'dynamic effects' that will magically increase revenue for the government. Repeat until the services are so underfunded so…

I cringe at your response. There's so much wrong in it. >>Use a slight budget deficit as an excuse to immediately cut back on services and infrastructure investments

A 'slight' deficit that's led to trillions in debt over a very short period of time.

>>government is worthless and never can provide anything of value

It is mostly worthless and hardly provides value(the worst part about this is is that a lot of times, I don't even have the option to opt out of these value-free services and pick something else that works)

>>Sometimes I think I don't pay enough taxes

Only a commie would say this.

Re: Sweden proposes ban on ride-sharing services that make profits

#212

Post by _andromeda_ » Fri, Dec 02, 2016, 8:14 AM UTC

piva00 wrote: post #22

edblarney wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"So, they want to encourage ride-sharing in the original meaning - carpooling. Not the "taxi company in disguise" meaning. Sounds fair enough to me." I'm not necessarily a fan of Uber, but this is ridiculous. If 'taxis' are legal in Sweden then there's no reason Uber should not be able to operate so long as they are obeying the laws . Ostensibly, this is about a specific issue - distance travelled and the lack of abi…

Do you live here in Scandinavia? Because the comment on entrepreneurship sounds VERY odd for me living here in Stockholm. I've literally never seen an instance of that, quite the opposite. Being a business person is just an occupation as any other, what Swedes are quite against is for you to make 100x to 1000x what your workers earn just by being the owner or CEO of the company. This sense of equality is well ingrain…

>> you just can't disguise a service making profit as carpooling

What does it matter what they call it? Carpooling/ridesharing ...

Aren't you still using a platform someone else built? Is it then your submission that said entity should not be compensated?

Re: Sweden proposes ban on ride-sharing services that make profits

#213

Post by ptaipale » Fri, Dec 02, 2016, 9:36 AM UTC

adamlett wrote: post #103

edblarney wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My (half) brother is Danish. The 'anti tax' statement is his, told to me, while I was in Denmark. The Danish tax authorities have to know specific things about your status - including if you carpool to work or not, in order to establish your tax status. They tax in a different way there - they establish your 'effective rate', rather than doing tons of deductions. Whether or not you carpool for example, affects your r…

misrepresenting anything - even a minor issue to the tax authorities - is a fairly serious crime You have to understand that in Denmark, salaried workers don't have to report their own taxes. Their employers and bank are obliged to do it for them. Only on the rare occasion when the bank or the employer don't have all the information, do most Danes have to edit their tax return. This state of affairs makes it hard to…

But isn't the system the same as we have in Finland: although employers report to the tax authorities and deposit PAYE, the tax authorities make a calculation and send it to the employee. But the individual is still responsible for declaring any income. You don't have to send back the report, if it includes everything and you aren't making any deductions. But if you have income that's not known by the tax authorities, and you don't report it, that's a crime.

Re: Sweden proposes ban on ride-sharing services that make profits

#214

Post by dagw » Fri, Dec 02, 2016, 9:53 AM UTC

Bartweiss wrote: post #69

vasco wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except you could just put a billboard right there in the airport exit saying how much an average trip to the city center costs for very little money.

I'm pretty sure I've seen exactly this - information booths at airports saying "this is what a licensed cab looks like, this is the fare to downtown, don't be fooled". It's not universal, though, because you'd need to get rights to put up the sign.

Also, at least in Sweden, each licensed taxi company sets their own fares so the problem isn't one of licensed vs unlicensed taxis. A sign saying you shouldn't pay more than X to get down town could work, but who gets to decide what X is?

Re: Sweden proposes ban on ride-sharing services that make profits

#215

Post by adamlett » Fri, Dec 02, 2016, 10:17 AM UTC

ptaipale wrote: post #213

adamlett wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

misrepresenting anything - even a minor issue to the tax authorities - is a fairly serious crime You have to understand that in Denmark, salaried workers don't have to report their own taxes. Their employers and bank are obliged to do it for them. Only on the rare occasion when the bank or the employer don't have all the information, do most Danes have to edit their tax return. This state of affairs makes it hard to…

But isn't the system the same as we have in Finland: although employers report to the tax authorities and deposit PAYE, the tax authorities make a calculation and send it to the employee. But the individual is still responsible for declaring any income . You don't have to send back the report, if it includes everything and you aren't making any deductions. But if you have income that's not known by the tax authoritie…

Yes, that sounds similar. My post was not meant to contrast Denmark with the world, but Scandinavia with the US, where it's the task of the individual to report any income. This makes it easier make mistakes or to cheat.

Re: Sweden proposes ban on ride-sharing services that make profits

#216

Post by ptaipale » Fri, Dec 02, 2016, 11:01 AM UTC

adamlett wrote: post #215

ptaipale wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But isn't the system the same as we have in Finland: although employers report to the tax authorities and deposit PAYE, the tax authorities make a calculation and send it to the employee. But the individual is still responsible for declaring any income . You don't have to send back the report, if it includes everything and you aren't making any deductions. But if you have income that's not known by the tax authoritie…

Yes, that sounds similar. My post was not meant to contrast Denmark with the world, but Scandinavia with the US, where it's the task of the individual to report any income. This makes it easier make mistakes or to cheat.

Sure, but my point on the other hand was that also in Scandinavia, the responsibility of submitting a correct report still ultimately lies with the taxpayer.

Re: Sweden proposes ban on ride-sharing services that make profits

#217

Post by justinator » Fri, Dec 02, 2016, 7:11 PM UTC

coldcode wrote: post #120

justinator wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And if this monkey could emigrate to Sweden tomorrow and pay much higher taxes for much more collective benefits, you bet my monkey tail I would.

If only Sweden were in the tropics... this monkey not into freezing.

Luckily: Snow Monkey :)

Re: Sweden proposes ban on ride-sharing services that make profits

#218

Post by dvdhnt » Sat, Dec 03, 2016, 4:30 AM UTC

sgift wrote: post #154

zzzzzzzzzman wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"But since he does..." This is a fatal assumption to make ;) I personally pay income taxes, do not have health insurance, and on the off times I require medical/dental care, I go to a private medical practice. It is therefore immoral to force me to pay for a service I am choosing not to use :)

> It is therefore immoral to force me to pay for a service I am choosing not to use :) Only if you define moral as "everyone for himself, weaker ones be damned" and sure that's your privilege to hope (and vote) for, but not a society I'd want to live in.

> everyone for himself

I think it's also relevant to point out a sort of butterfly effect.

For example, John doesn't ride the public bus, but Sally, the after-school-care provider, rides it to and from work each day. John, is a single father and can't afford a private daycare so he relies on the public school's after care provided by Sally. Sure, John could vote to abolish the bus system, and save a few dollars in taxes each year, but then he's cutting off his own nose to spite his face as he no longer can afford after care for his children.

I've heard that Westerners misunderstand the "socialism" of Nordic countries. More than one person has posited that the majority favors free and public healthcare and education systems because they are better for the individual; it ensures their family, regardless of personal circumstances, are taken care of and have the backing of an entire country. Not sure if this is true, but I hope it is.

Re: Sweden proposes ban on ride-sharing services that make profits

#219

Post by koolba » Sat, Dec 03, 2016, 1:47 PM UTC

jackmaney wrote: post #189

zzzzzzzzzman wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I appreciate your response :) The real question is why are medical procedures so artificially expensive. The only thing I would really need medical insurance for is a rare emergency procedure like an appendectomy. Information online says an appendectomy can cost anywhere from $1,500 to $150,000. Why is there such a deviation? This is how insurance companies make their money. When we consider that medical insurance in…

And exactly how many people do you think have $1,500 laying around? (Hint: not many)

> And exactly how many people do you think have $1,500 laying around? (Hint: not many)

If you're paying $300/mo and are reasonably healthy (i.e. not going to the doctor regularly) then you'd save that up in now time. The real fix to all of this is to remove day-to-day care from health insurance and let it be just "insurance" (i.e. not healthcare). They have a bit of that with catastrophic plans but there are limitations on who can sign up for them (which I personally think is really stupid).

Re: Sweden proposes ban on ride-sharing services that make profits

#220

Post by jackmaney » Sat, Dec 03, 2016, 9:51 PM UTC

koolba wrote: post #219

jackmaney wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And exactly how many people do you think have $1,500 laying around? (Hint: not many)

> And exactly how many people do you think have $1,500 laying around? (Hint: not many) If you're paying $300/mo and are reasonably healthy (i.e. not going to the doctor regularly) then you'd save that up in now time. The real fix to all of this is to remove day-to-day care from health insurance and let it be just "insurance" (i.e. not healthcare). They have a bit of that with catastrophic plans but there are limitati…

Five months is not "now [sic] time".