Jeff Bezos comes out in support of increased corporate taxes

Re:Jeff Bezos comes out in support of increased corporate taxes by lb1lf on Wednesday April 07, 2021 @04:07AM (#26721734)

-Not the OP, but my impression is s/he implied that the big corporations performed tax shenanigans to ensure their taxable profit ended up very near zero - say, buying expensive services from subsidiaries in tax havens &c.

Say I run a company out of the US called 'Paraná' (Seeing as the other big river is already taken), turning $1B/year profit.

I promptly spend the profit buying consulting services from 'Paraná Consulting and Tax Shenanigans LLC' based out of a Panama mailbox for $1.05B, for instance - then I even run my US business at a loss.

(I don't know anything about US or international tax codes, but the above basically sums up the methods described in X stories I've read about tax planning over the years.)

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Re:Jeff Bezos comes out in support of increased corporate taxes by nicoburns on Wednesday April 07, 2021 @04:11AM (#26721757)

I feel like this be addressed by simply banning all trade with tax haven countries.

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Re:Jeff Bezos comes out in support of increased corporate taxes by fakedang on Wednesday April 07, 2021 @04:49AM (#26721999)

Define tax haven countries. The UK is a tax haven for a lot of Russians, Switzerland is a tax haven for anyone not American, the UAE is a tax haven that the US does 18B in trade with, and that invests roughly 25B annually in the US directly, Singapore is a tax haven that the US actually has a surplus with. So yeah, it's not simple.

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Re:Jeff Bezos comes out in support of increased corporate taxes by lotsofpulp on Wednesday April 07, 2021 @05:35AM (#26722374)

Would you also ban trade with tax haven states? There are states that have no income tax, low worker protections that offer lower costs, or did not choose to pay government employees 40 years ago with unfunded retirement benefits.

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Re:Jeff Bezos comes out in support of increased corporate taxes by sumedh on Wednesday April 07, 2021 @08:12AM (#26723679)

> all trade with tax haven countries.

UK, Netherlands and others countries have their own tax havens like Cayman Island, Curacao Island. Are you really going to ban trade with such big financial powerhouses?

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Re:Jeff Bezos comes out in support of increased corporate taxes by nicoburns on Wednesday April 07, 2021 @08:54AM (#26724136)

You need a big enough bloc to make the decision together. Ideally the US + the EU + UK/EEA countries. But then yes, if countries outside the bloc decide not to comply then that's on them.

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