Well written article. Quick question: do big tech companies actually pay taxes in the US? In Europe, according to a documentary I watched on YouTube, they don't. Most of the profits get routed through Luxembourg. The problem seems to be cultural and structural.
JohnFen•1h ago
I don't know specifically about the tech sector, but large corporations and the very wealthy in general tend to pay less tax than you'd think. Sometimes a lot less. Sometimes zero.
When you have enough assets, you can arrange your things in creative ways that minimize tax liability. Tax avoidance is legal and the tax code is written expecting it, tax evasion (doing something prohibited or failing to do something required) is not.
This is also why, when you see things like "business taxes are at X%", that's not really true. That's just the highest tax possible, which is never what's actually paid.
danielvf•3h ago
Don't be fooled by the headline - that's neither the authors words, nor his opinion, but an editor trying to bait viewers.
pyman•3h ago
JohnFen•1h ago
When you have enough assets, you can arrange your things in creative ways that minimize tax liability. Tax avoidance is legal and the tax code is written expecting it, tax evasion (doing something prohibited or failing to do something required) is not.
This is also why, when you see things like "business taxes are at X%", that's not really true. That's just the highest tax possible, which is never what's actually paid.