Re:TikTok Inc. vs. U.S. Department of Commerce
by czzr on Monday August 24, 2020 @03:13PM
(#24264276)
The location of your Corporate headquarters is different to the physical location of your company.
Re:TikTok Inc. vs. U.S. Department of Commerce
by throwaway0a5e on Monday August 24, 2020 @04:29PM
(#24265155)
Payroll and property taxes follow the state of the employees, not the company. Taxes on profit are easy for a BigCo to dodge with good accounting.
Re:TikTok Inc. vs. U.S. Department of Commerce
by munk-a on Monday August 24, 2020 @05:24PM
(#24265696)
It's only easy to dodge them due to the current rules of accounting - we can work on fixing that component or enforcing minimal VAT taxes down-chain. For instance the US could require that a VAT of at least 20% be paid before reaching the US, then collect any taxes left on the table by, say, the bahamas when they only collect a 2% VAT - the US could gate goods entry based on a 18% fee on the difference.
This applies only to actual goods value (and doesn't look at capturing out-of-band transactions like online orders of virtual goods) but it's a really dead simple and easy to enforce law that'd kill a lot of tax dodging dead.
The real issue isn't that it's hard to tax these companies - it's that there isn't a significant political will in taxing these companies.
So why is so much tech stuck on the west coast then?
If it were that simple they'd have all moved (moved their operations and headcount) to lower tax areas by now.