I personally like these changes, but the cynical forum shopping underlying the €75B threshold they picked is pretty nasty behavior, and I hope US lawmakers retaliate appropriately.
I personally like these changes, but the cynical forum shopping underlying the €75B threshold they picked is pretty nasty behavior, and I hope US lawmakers retaliate appropriately.
Oh, only the European VW and Daimler would be impacted? Such a shame.
There is a crucial difference. Unlike Google and Apple the German Autos employ a lot of Americans and pay quite some taxes in America (sometimes in structurally weak places). That gives them more leverage than their Digital counterparts.
Of course they are not doing that because they are more moral but because their products are bulky and need to be built locally.
If it were truly independent then Apple’s “global market cap” would be irrelevant, and Cupertino could collect via IP licensing in Luxembourg taxed at 5%.
[edited for clarity, I think]
That kind of loophole-explotation floats only in common law. Not in civil law. The civil law would go down like a hammer on such heads.
The US has already won (and indeed was always winning) in terms of tech companies. There's nothing to retaliate against!