Hacker News Reader

Comment by NTDF9 | Hacker News Reader

The previous one and the current one aren't the only 2 choices.

A third one would be to pass a law saying US companies and US subsidiaries need to repatriate 80% of foreign cash at 35% else the executives will be jailed. Guess how much cash will come back and at what rate.

Ever seen such amazing tax breaks for the poor?

View on HN

Most of the poor pay 0% tax. A company is mostly just a collection of assets, and many of them can move their operations from one country to another if they're motivated to do so, you can't just say "this company belongs to the US federal government". If you want capital to permanently leave the US, then start jailing executives anytime they structure a multinational company. If you'd like them to structure their companies in a way that benefits the US, then implement an internationally competitive tax structure.

>you can't just say "this company belongs to the US federal government".

Actually you can, it's called nationalization, and has been used many times in the past.

That said, you could just force their hand. Sure, they can "permanently leave the US", but if they value it as a market, you can hurt them with that (e.g. taxes on their stuff when they try to import it back).

> A third one would be to pass a law saying US companies and US subsidiaries need to repatriate 80% of foreign cash at 35% else the executives will be jailed.

Whereupon the executives, and the money, and the company, decamp from the US permanently.

> Guess how much cash will come back and at what rate.

My guess? Zero. My guess for the number of companies that would leave the United States altogether? 100%.

That would be a great way to make the US totally uninviting to capital, and cause trillions of dollars worth of capital flight. It would also be deeply unethical, but that's just my opinion.

If you want to go down that path just tax based on the reported profit.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com