[governance] Re: Telecom TV on Google and Taxes

[Riaz K Tayob]

On 2012/12/13 03:31 PM, McTim wrote:
> but they do pay taxes.  Just not as much as some would like.

They do pay taxes and the line between tax avoidance and evasion is a 
fine one.

>
> Who is to say what is fair?  the IGC?

The tax justice network (tjn) has done some remarkable work on these 
kinds of matters. For example comparing corporate taxes to those paid by 
ordinary folk (progresssive, regressive and overall effective tax rates) 
that makes for some interesting reading.

Yes there are comparisons that are being made, perhaps not specifically 
for internet governance, and that provide some insights into the 
treatment of "legal persons" (after Citizens United in the US this is a 
significant change that I hope American Exceptionalists would perhaps 
weigh in on) as compared to "real" persons (depending on income level).


> International tax treaties allow such behavior, which we may agree is
> sub-optimal for a number of reasons, but it is still legal.
There are two elements here:
1) legality - this may be so; although there is less tolerance for this 
behaviour with Geneva bankers now increasingly becoming tax collectors 
for the US, Germany etc...
2) is it more precise to talk about alegality perhaps - as in not 
regulated, falling through stools... for example transfer pricing are 
legal rules that allow accompany to offset losses and gains to reduce 
its tax liability. This is coming under increasing scrutiny and the 
bounds of legality are certainly being explored and exploited.

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