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The new tax havens

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Re: The new tax havens

#31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like the Irish government is behaving quite responsibly. Many other governments would be tempted to try to take a bigger piece of the pie from their corporations in order to get reelected, not realizing that they might be killing the goose that laid the golden egg. It sounds like the Irish have their collective heads on straight.

I would strongly suggest learning more about the Irish financial crisis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008%E2%80%932011_Irish_financi... http://www.amazon.com/Ship-Fools-Stupidity-Corruption-Celtic... There were staggering levels of corruption and mismanagement both in the Irish government and within the Irish financial industry. I don't think you can look at the corporate tax rate independently from all of the other…

There were staggering levels of corruption and mismanagement both in the Irish government and within the Irish financial industry.

Agreed. There was clearly very little banking regulation, and many private banks were let run wild, combine that with a massive property bubble (prices have falled nationwide by 50% since 2007), and a strong societal urge to get on the property market, and Ireland is in massive financial trouble.

Re: The new tax havens

#32

Serious question; What's the difference between price fixing and tax harmonisation?

Since governments make the laws, lots of things prohibited to private entities turn out to be legal when governments do them.

Re: The new tax havens

#33
post #19

There is a lot of loaded language in that report, and I got the feeling that the reporter should have taken an economics class before doing it. It was like watching a ignorant economics student get lectured about reality and she not wanting to accept any of it. So, instead of pulling down a bunch of theory from the shelf and going over it, I'll just point out the obvious flaw: she believes that the country "owns" all…

Excellent points. To add to this: a) Taxes are used to pay for a whole host of things that large majorities find highly undesirable, including bombing Libya, harassing air travellers, and bailing out Wall Street. Whether you are on the left or right, you can add a slew of other programs that are of dubious or negative value. b) Taxes are also extracted involuntarily, literally at the point of a gun if one thinks abou…

What would be a more efficient way to fund Medicaid and bombing Libya?

Re: The new tax havens

#34
Speaking of low taxes, I think US companies are overlooking Turkey and the advantages it offers to tech companies.

1) no corporate tax 2) no income tax for employees

All that is required is for the project to be approved as an R&D project. There is an incredible talent pool, solid infrastructre and a beautiful city waiting...I am just saying...:-)

Re: The new tax havens

#35
post #32

Serious question; What's the difference between price fixing and tax harmonisation?

Since governments make the laws, lots of things prohibited to private entities turn out to be legal when governments do them.

So, one is legal and one is not. Is that really the extent of it? This sounds like a pretty clear example of something that should probably be closed to all parties, gov included.

Re: The new tax havens

#36
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would strongly suggest learning more about the Irish financial crisis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008%E2%80%932011_Irish_financi... http://www.amazon.com/Ship-Fools-Stupidity-Corruption-Celtic... There were staggering levels of corruption and mismanagement both in the Irish government and within the Irish financial industry. I don't think you can look at the corporate tax rate independently from all of the other…

There were staggering levels of corruption and mismanagement both in the Irish government and within the Irish financial industry. Agreed. There was clearly very little banking regulation, and many private banks were let run wild, combine that with a massive property bubble (prices have falled nationwide by 50% since 2007), and a strong societal urge to get on the property market, and Ireland is in massive financial…

And to give you an idea of how massive the property bubble group think was, here's a video of the Taoiseach (Prime Minister/leader of government) saying in July 2007 that people who talk down the economy are so stupid that they should commit suicide http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfjGSfuSQpA
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