Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

EU adopts global minimum 15% tax on big business

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 266 posts

Re: EU adopts global minimum 15% tax on big business

#61

Post by poszlem »

jameshart wrote: post #55
poszlem wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only difference is, I suppose, the fact that one comes from a people that got very close to experiencing the "social justice paradise" and the other is just a made up phrase by an internet troll. Otherwise, they are practically indistinguable.

Do you believe that when Paolo Gentiloni is using the words ‘social justice’, to describe a goal he is evidently in favor of accomplishing via the EU, he is saying he intends to adopt the economic and social policies of communist Poland? Because I think that is a fairly uncharitable reading of what he likely intends.

I don't even think the communist government of Poland wanted to adopt those policies. The problem with "social justice" is not the intention behind it but the actual implementation and what it requires. For example, here we don't go from country to country asking their citizens if they agree with the tax rate, instead we create an unelected global body that decides what the rest of the world is going to do (in this example raise taxes).

Re: EU adopts global minimum 15% tax on big business

#62

Post by mahkeiro »

oliv__ wrote: post #6

"The US has not taken steps to adopt the rules so far, despite Ms Yellen's championship of the plan." Lol, obviously. Cheering them on as they shoot themselves in the foot

No because the law allow the EU country to tax the benefit made inside of their boundary if the company is not subject to the minimal 15% tax rate. So if the US don’t want to tax at 15%, EU country will tax on their side.

Re: EU adopts global minimum 15% tax on big business

#63

Post by jameshart »

poszlem wrote: post #49
manmal wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are you criticizing, the wording or the fact that big corps are being taxed?

A bit of both. I don't mind corps being taxed if that's what a country wants to do. I do have a problem with making this a "global government mandated" thing though. And as I mentioned in other comments, I despise the revival of the communist vocabulary ("reactionary", "bourgeois", "social justice", "equity").

Survivors of an abusive relationship might struggle with the fact that their partner told them that they ‘loved’ them, and yet that supposed love took the form of cruelty and abuse.

They might struggle to trust anybody else who talks about ‘love’.

But that doesn’t mean that other people who use the word ‘love’ are secret abusers.

Re: EU adopts global minimum 15% tax on big business

#64

Post by sokoloff »

Nextgrid wrote: post #34
martinald wrote: post #25

This isn't really as big a deal as it's been made out to be, IMO. This is Pillar 2 of the OECDs tax reform for corporations. Pillar 1 is much more interesting, and would require corporations to actually book profits where they are made (so not putting everything through Ireland for example). This will have a much bigger impact imo than this 15% ruling, because right now there are a bunch of tricks you can use to get…

Out of curiosity, how do you define where profits are made when it comes to selling digital services? There is no physical movement of goods. Do you determine it based on where the software was originally written?

Or licensing deals. If I license a processor and put it in my product that's designed in the US, using an ARM core licensed from the UK, manufactured in China, sold to a distributor in Switzerland, and sold to an end user in Australia.

Where were the profits from that device made? Surely not entirely in Australia (or any of the other single jurisdictions), as actual value was added in several different locations.

Re: EU adopts global minimum 15% tax on big business

#65

Post by orangebeet »

poszlem wrote: post #4

> "Today the European Union has taken a crucial step towards tax fairness and social justice," EU economy commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said. There is a saying in Poland: "The difference between > and > is the same as the difference between > and >. I wish we would actually listen to the those countries, when it comes to topics like socialism and communism. Though I suspect the Western European countries need to taste…

You're absolutely right. When we are all fully fledged EU-colonies and the non-democratically elected Urzula has bought out all corrupt politicians to the benefit of Germany, "we" will understand what it means.

Re: EU adopts global minimum 15% tax on big business

#68

Post by poszlem »

Negitivefrags wrote: post #33

I don't really like this kind of idea because it really goes against a kind of fundemental freedom. "If you don't like it, you can leave". Instead, laws around making sure that the profits generated from a countries citizens are taxed by that country make more sense to me. A lot of laws around that already exist, and I suppose a lot of people would say that they have not been effective. A lot of it comes down to the…

I wholeheartedly agree with this, and I think the idea "If you don't like it, you can leave" is one of the most important, if not THE most important freedom a person should have. It's the reason why former communist countries took passports away from their citizens.

It's the idea that we know what's best for you and you better adapt because there is no escaping. It's the fundamental idea of many social justice movements that require totalitarian methods to get what they want.

This is why self-determination is such important concept, something that the global utopians can never really grasp.

Re: EU adopts global minimum 15% tax on big business

#69

Post by wyldfire »

Negitivefrags wrote: post #33

I don't really like this kind of idea because it really goes against a kind of fundemental freedom. "If you don't like it, you can leave". Instead, laws around making sure that the profits generated from a countries citizens are taxed by that country make more sense to me. A lot of laws around that already exist, and I suppose a lot of people would say that they have not been effective. A lot of it comes down to the…

> "If you don't like it, you can leave".

s/leave/rent a new PO Box over here and change some DNS records/

Re: EU adopts global minimum 15% tax on big business

#70

Post by redm »

toast0 wrote: post #54
torben-friis wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surely if, say, netflix is offered to french costumers profit is made in france?

Why should the profit be made in france if the engineering that went into delivery was made in the US, the content was made in X, the deal for the content was negotiated in Y, network source is Z (probably france, but not necessarily) VAT in France on the subscription makes sense, but figuring out where the profit lies, is more nebulous.

It's where the profits are, not where the cost centers are. If the customers are in France, the profits are in France.
Post reply on HN