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rorykoehleron Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

I want for nothing.

Edit: I just want you be clear here. I think the tax rate is way too high even at 25% effective tax rate. The system is overburdening poor people no doubt about it but I also think we should not fudge the numbers by claiming we pay the top tax band rates as effective rate because it invalidates whatever else we say after that. It’s dishonest. IMO effective tax rate should be <5% and actually 0% for most of us.

rorykoehleron Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

If you think that you don't know very much about recent Irish history. They all have significant blood on their hands, mostly due to their relationship with the Catholic Church.

rorykoehleron Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

I'm middle class and that's about what I pay (effective tax rate) in Germany. It's a bit less actually.

rorykoehleron Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

Thanks for the correction. I always assumed legal tender meant the other are illegal.

OT side note: if anyone from HN team is reading this it would be great if the upvote from the parent poster to a comment would be signified visually in some way (like green usernames for 2 week old accounts).

rorykoehleron Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

Income taxes from employees of these megacorps is where Ireland makes the money back.

rorykoehleron Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

I agree other countries can do what this wish but realistically what's the carrot for Ireland though?

rorykoehleron Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

We can and there is a huge swell of support for Sinn Fein a nationalist left wing party (the political arm of the IRA). The two centre right parties FF & FG (FFG) that have held power since Ireland gained independence are very pro the current taxation policy and have up until now had an iron grip on power due to a culture of voting for whoever your parents voted for. This is slowly changing. Loads of Irish people don't want this. The only problem I see is that we have structured our whole economy around FDI and there are no realistic proposals to revamp our economy to a similar level of wealth through different means. Enough people in Ireland will continue to vote for FFG because they get preferable tax treatment on investments as landlords, backroom deal etc. Ireland is a corrupt mess tbh.

rorykoehleron Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

If it fails you can always revert to the current failed system.

rorykoehleron Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

They are doing it illegally. My point still stands.

rorykoehleron Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

We need to do it without the central planning the economy (which incidentally Lenin also wanted to do on a local/cottage industry level).

rorykoehleron Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

>you could get significant tax benefits

This is a significant piece of information in this discussion.

rorykoehleron Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

In Germany health insurance for example is also based on income but it's capped. My point is that it is more nuanced than 40%. No one counts the money they get back from these programs when they need to use them in their calculation etc

rorykoehleron Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

Sorry I agree with you. I didn't mean fraud was a big cost, only that social spending (including non-fraudulent) seems to be very high and not tightly controlled (which as a side effect allows for easy fraud). From the outside society seems very stratified. Plenty of Telsa's in Amsterdam and people with expensive tastes. NL is obviously a very wealthy place even compared to neighbouring countries but also has a large less wealthy population. This is another angle to the problem (in addition to the corp tax regime) because it unfairly puts the tax burden on people like yourself.

rorykoehleron Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

They use your currency because they get paid in it. Government spending doesn't disappear into a black hole never to be seen again. [FALSE]>>> Also it's illegal to use other currencies as tender in (probably?) all countries in the world (Zimbabwe uses/used(?) the US dollar but I'm not aware of any other instances).

rorykoehleron Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

I have known many Dutch people over the years who have gotten a lot of benefits from the state from unemployment to housing. Some of it clearly fraudulently too. Seems to be unsustainable.

rorykoehleron Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

25% is what I would expect. You're getting some of the other expenses back eventually (hopefully) in form of pensions, unemployment (if you ever need it) etc. Health itself is a service you are buying. I wouldn't call it a tax despite it being mandatory. I think taxes are too high and the system needs to be redesigned but I just think we need to be exact on our figures when we discuss this stuff.

rorykoehleron Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

TIL. I thought absurdly high tax rates were a nordic specialty. NL seems very wealthy whenever I visit. Are median incomes substantially higher than surrounding countries?

rorykoehleron Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

Add a UBI and it would work. There needs to be an economic floor which ensures there is no destitution. The aim isn't to get rid of wealth. The system now isn't working because wealthy people are securing their income and wealth without paying tax at the expense of social and civil programs.

rorykoehleron Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

There is no tax free allowance in NL? Do you pay extra for healthcare or is it paid for out of that amount?

rorykoehleron Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

Government sets an annual budget and then creates the money to pay for it out of thin air every year.

rorykoehleron Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

Congrats you are earning a lot. You should be grateful to be in such a privileged position few can dream of.

rorykoehleron Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

I live in Germany and pay between 20-25% of my income in income tax depending on how much I bill. I easily support a family of 4 on this. Rent, car, holidays, the lot.

rorykoehleron Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

No one pays that much in a progressive tax system. Every time this discussion comes up people spout off these numbers but if you calculate out how much you actually pay it's probably in the 20-30% of total salary range. That's still high but it's just dishonest and makes people look like idiots when they throw around 40% etc. If you are truly paying 40% of your income in tax you are earning millions and are benefiting massively from the system already.

rorykoehleron Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

We should stop all taxation and use inflation to pay for everything instead. Much simpler and no one can get out of it.

rorykoehleron Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

40%? Usually that kind of rate applies to an upper progressive tax band. Where do you live?

rorykoehleron Microsoft Irish subsidiary paid zero corporate tax on £220bn profit last year

Surely the amount you pay yourself is deducted from the amount you pay 20% corporate tax on before you are taxed?

rorykoehleron The NFT market bubble has popped?

That was quick. Rubbish like this will kill crypto. So many grifters in crypto.

rorykoehleron Amazon backs marijuana legalization, drops weed testing for some jobs

I'd vote Democrat over Republican every day of the week but it's denialism to pretend this doesn't enable this sociopathic approach to governance. You're appealing to tribalism because it fits your values. I wholeheartedly disagree that this is a healthy way to approach politics.

rorykoehleron Amazon backs marijuana legalization, drops weed testing for some jobs

Of course they are equivalent because they are completely self serving and insincere. We should want and expect leaders with the courage of their convictions. I don't trust anyone who can change so readily and without second thought when it suits them. They'll just change back again when it suits.

rorykoehleron Amazon backs marijuana legalization, drops weed testing for some jobs

We have ICE cars clogging up our cities. I don't think this is a valid argument when looked at in this context.