[governance] Facebook spent $4 million to lobby U.S. lawmakers in 2012

Sat Jan 26 12:52:41 EST 2013

Do we have a definition of global public interest?

On Sat, Jan 26, 2013 at 12:47 PM, michael gurstein <gurstein at gmail.com> wrote:
> These continuing sniggering comments concerning "world peace" are to my mind
> unbecoming…
>
>
>
> And in fact, without using those exact terms (did anyone in fact, directly
> refer to "world peace") issues of the governing the Internet in the global
> public interest (or not) are very very much issues of concern to this group
> and if anyone questions whether they are directly pertinent to our immediate
> discussion I would refer you to my comments on the document that Stephane
> and Avri have just now circulated for sign-on to the IGC.
>
>
>
> M
>
>
>
> From: governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org
> [mailto:governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org] On Behalf Of Dr. Alejandro
> Pisanty Baruch
> Sent: Saturday, January 26, 2013 9:23 AM
> To: governance at lists.igcaucus.org; Nick Ashton-Hart; Guru गुरु
> Subject: RE: [governance] Facebook spent $4 million to lobby U.S. lawmakers
> in 2012
>
>
>
> Nick,
>
>
>
> "Folks, is tax policy really what people are interested in having an effect
> on in the IGC list? Is this a battle you really want to enter into, given
> the very real threats the open Internet faces today?"
>
>
>
> And world peace.
>
>
>
> Alejandro Pisanty
>
>
>
>
>
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>      Dr. Alejandro Pisanty
> Facultad de Química UNAM
>
> Av. Universidad 3000, 04510 Mexico DF Mexico
>
>
>
> +52-1-5541444475 FROM ABROAD
>
> +525541444475 DESDE MÉXICO SMS +525541444475
> Blog: http://pisanty.blogspot.com
> LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/pisanty
> Unete al grupo UNAM en LinkedIn,
> http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/22285/4A106C0C8614
> Twitter: http://twitter.com/apisanty
> ---->> Unete a ISOC Mexico, http://www.isoc.org
> .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .
>
> ________________________________
>
> Desde: governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org
> [governance-request at lists.igcaucus.org] en nombre de Nick Ashton-Hart
> [nashton at ccianet.org]
> Enviado el: sábado, 26 de enero de 2013 02:35
> Hasta: governance at lists.igcaucus.org; Guru गुरु
> Asunto: Re: [governance] Facebook spent $4 million to lobby U.S. lawmakers
> in 2012
>
> Guru said:
>
>
>
> The scandalously low effective tax rates of the IT transnationals can also
> be seen as some kind of implicit subsidy ... and measures/experiments like
> that of the French Govt are required to help correct this situation - by
> reducing the lobbying power of these corporates and also getting the funding
> required by governments to support basic societal infrastructure, including
> soft infrastructure like public education and public health..
>
>
>
> My reply:
>
>
>
> The rates being paid by IT companies are not different than other types of
> companies. For example, I believe GE paid effectively 14% tax globally last
> year. Corporate tax rates overall do not differentiate by sector - though,
> of course, some vertical markets do get exemptions and credits designed to
> encourage certain activities by them.
>
>
>
> If you believe that companies should pay more, that's fine - but to suggest
> that IT companies are particularly bad in some way does a disservice, I
> think, to the overall objective which many seek: reforming the tax system so
> that companies, in general, pay a larger share of tax.
>
>
>
> This is, by the way, extremely complex and there are powerful incentives for
> countries to incentivise FDI by, among other measures, favourable tax
> regimes. It will be incredibly difficult to get enough countries that are
> desirable markets for industry to sign up to a broad range of measures to
> synchronise taxes to produce the desired end - the incentives to attract FDI
> are simply very powerful.
>
>
>
> What the French are proposing (not for the first time) is not going to help
> anything; it is soapbox policy, designed for an internal audience of French
> people. Like the 75% tax on wealthy individuals they propose, it wouldn't
> raise enough money to solve France's real deficit issues; it would just make
> France even less competitive an economy than it already is.
>
>
>
> Folks, is tax policy really what people are interested in having an effect
> on in the IGC list? Is this a battle you really want to enter into, given
> the very real threats the open Internet faces today?
>
> --
>
> Regards,
>
>
>
> Nick Ashton-Hart
>
>
>
> Need to meet with me? Schedule the time that suits us both here:
> http://meetme.so/nashton
>
>
>
> Sent from my one of my handheld thingies, please excuse linguistic mangling.
>
>
> On 26 Jan 2013, at 04:49, "Guru गुरु" <Guru at itforchange.net> wrote:
>
> The scandalously low effective tax rates of the IT transnationals can also
> be seen as some kind of implicit subsidy ... and measures/experiments like
> that of the French Govt are required to help correct this situation - by
> reducing the lobbying power of these corporates and also getting the funding
> required by governments to support basic societal infrastructure, including
> soft infrastructure like public education and public health..
>
>
> ____________________________________________________________
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-- 
Cheers,

McTim
"A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A
route indicates how we get there."  Jon Postel

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