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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Austerity: In Europe (well in Britain), we're doing it thoroughly
— yep, we're chasing down Starbucks, Amazon and Google for corporate tax avoidance and starting to form action at the International Level.
"There's nothing more galling to small and medium-sized enterprises when they are paying (tax), and others are dodging it," Mr Cable said. "Our own tax authorities have got to be very tough on things like royalty payments, which is where a lot of the subterfuge takes place."
However, he said that finding a solution was difficult, especially as the UK had to make itself attractive to inward investors. "The big question is whether you can get wider (international) agreement," he said. As companies are using favourable tax jurisdictions overseas there needs to "a combination of action at the international level as well as beef up our own capacity to deal with it".
Mr Cable said: "It is quite difficult to drill down to what the problems are. Starbucks claims they are actually making losses in the UK. I don't know whether they are not but you would need some pretty intensive investigation by the Inland Revenue to establish what exactly is going on, whether their transfer prices and their royalties are being fiddled or not." All the companies under fire over the amount of corporation tax paid said that they operated within the tax rules and regulations and have done nothing wrong.
Now, how could this relate to the US?
Keep Rolling OnQuite directly. Until we get international agreement to close down all the avenues by which companies can legally dodge taxes, they will continue to stand there telling everyone that they are "obeying the law" whilst dodging taxes.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"While it ought to be axiomatic that addressing the economic depression is the first objective of governments, tax avoidance is a serious drain on revenues that must get dealt with to have a stable system going forward.
edited 18th Nov '12 8:36:08 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Isn't the problem exacerbated by companies having a legal obligation to maximise profit for their shareholders, forcing them to use loopholes even if they don't want to? I heard/read somewhere that was a problem faced by more ethically-minded companies.
With cannon shot and gun blast smash the alien. With laser beam and searing plasma scatter the alien to the stars.Yes, that is a serious problem. It's a simple fact that businesses' self-interest conflicts with the self-interest of society as a whole.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
You shouldn't have a war between decent, social ethics and legal responsibilities.
The moment you do, the Law is Being an Ass™.
Also, by having some businesses in a position to out-compete small and medium businesses simply down to the fact they're large enough to play international shell games with their money... is hardly competitive on an equal footing.
They don't need the incentive to turn around and say "well, if we don't, we get sued by our shareholders".
edited 18th Nov '12 9:59:03 AM by Euodiachloris
Yarp. Amoungst other things
. After all, if an individual can face court after littering on a neighbour's or public property... a corporation sure as hell shouldn't manage to evade.
Whatever an individual can be pulled up for, a corporation granted "personhood" should be, too.
edited 18th Nov '12 11:22:26 AM by Euodiachloris
... Companies are people?
Does this mean that mergers are marriages? Thus, if two technology companies merge in a state that doesn't legalise gay unions, the merger is illegal.
Corporate responsibility should be a thing. If they don't want to do it, then government - as the protector of the people - should do it.
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According to Citizens United they are. It basically said companies are entitled to donate as much money as possible during elections because they have the right to free speech or something.
edited 18th Nov '12 11:28:25 AM by Kostya

The message of the article is not "Southerners can be liberals". The message of the article is: The Democrat/Republican divide is not a "North/South" divide as much as it is a "urban/rural" divide. Thus, Republican successes in the South have less to do with some kind of semi-fictional "Guns, Rednecks and Jesus" mentality on the part of Southerners as it does with the demographics of the region. The writer is not saying "Southerners can be liberals", the writer is saying, "please can Northern liberals stop stereotyping all Southerners as yearning for a return to the C.S.A."
From the article: "To my chagrin, liberals living outside the South deny our existence, lump us all together by using rhetoric about the Confederacy and heap pity on us with a little condescension thrown in for good measure. They also seem to be unaware of nuance.
The fact is, liberals everywhere live among people who don’t share their views. Are you listening Wisconsin, Arizona, Indiana and, yes, New York? Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond are long dead. Michele Bachmann, Scott Walker and other Tea Party darlings are alive and well, and they aren’t all whistling Dixie.
If the Democrats are going to be a true majority party, they will need to build a coalition in all 50 states. So rather than see the South as a lost cause (pun intended), the Democratic Party and liberals north and west of us should put a lid on their regional biases and encourage the change that is possible here."
The point of the article is to get Northern liberals to stop stereotyping, not point out the bleedin' obvious.
Schild und Schwert der Partei