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Comment by listenallyall | Hacker News Reader

>> morality is not a binary choice

I'm not the one claiming it is. I've stated that morality and taxes have no connection. Others in this thread, including you, are claiming that paying less taxes = immoral.

>> Corporations which incorporate in a state like South Dakota or Delaware

A grand total of 3 of the Fortune 500 are incorporated in SD or DE. 110 are in NY or CA. It would appear that by your reasoning, the number of immoral companies who "take advantage of incorporation policies" are overwhelmingly outnumbered by companies with such high morals, they selected the highest tax states.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/303696/us-fortune-500-co...

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I mean you basically cherry-picked half a sentence and ignored the rest of the argument for morality and taxes having a connection. Also, please don’t confuse “less taxes = immoral” with the actual position of taxes which should be paid, but because of loopholes are not. For example, if we had Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan and every corporation, regardless of size, paid its 9% (which is less than the existing 21%) in full, I think few people would claim its immoral.

Looks like your data is paywalled. Is it the same that’s available here? https://hifld-geoplatform.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/fortu...

Because if so, I think it’s a little bit more complicated. For example, Alphabet’s corporate headquarters is located in Mountain View, but it looks like it is incorporated in Delaware [1].

1: https://abc.xyz/investor/static/pdf/alphabet-certificate-of-...

They certainly didn't choose Delaware for tax avoidance. The rate is 8.7%. Let's bow to the high morals of Sergei & Larry.

https://www.delawarebusinessincorporators.com/pages/delaware...

For posterity:

>Second, Delaware’s tax system gives businesses several ways to legally minimize their tax bills. Companies that are incorporated in Delaware but do business in other states don’t have to pay state corporate income tax to Delaware. Some groups accuse Delaware of being a tax haven because the “Delaware loophole” allows companies to declare certain types of revenue in Delaware rather than in the state where the business actually occurred. Delaware also doesn’t tax profits on royalty payments, trademarks, or copyrights.

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/76951/why-are-so-many-us...

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