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Comment by andrepd | Hacker News Reader

"Medoicrity" is countries around the world losing hundreds of billions of dollars per year in tax evasion and capital flight. A "cartel" in this case, meaning a (democratic) agreement between major economic blocs to put a floor on corporate tax, and sanction those who violate this, is precisely what you need.

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It isn't "countries around the world" that lose taxes and capital. It's a small number of very rich countries, mostly in the West, and primarily the US. This is simply a way for the US to retain economic power (and all the other powers that come from it) while cutting off competitive paths for other countries to compete and get rich. The reason this feels like a cartel is because the proposed policies amount to a joint collusive policy meant to reduce competition.

Exactly. These countries put forth policy they cannot afford and are out-competed via taxation. Allowing them to express force on smaller countries in an effort to reduce their profits seems mind blowingly aggressive.

I guess its the kind of dumb policy we have to put up with until someone points out that those affected by this are likely 'minorities" in western societies and is therefore racist/bigoted. Its the only way to argue nowadays.

It's similar to the clean energy debate. Rich countries telling developing countries that they cannot get rich the same way they did. It's more about securing their positions from competitors than actually helping the poor or whatever.

Also, every country that agrees to this minimum tax loses a bit of sovereignty, because if a member state needs to for example lower their rate to 14% or 10% in the future for a very good reason, they can't.

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