Slashdot Mirror
Amazon's Luxembourg Tax Deals
Presto Vivace writes in with this story of a European Commission investigation into a secret tax agreement between Amazon and Luxembourg. "Leaked tax documents from accounting firm PwC in Luxembourg show how Amazon sidesteps the 30 per cent tax rates local [Australian] players face. The Luxembourg documents, obtained in a review led by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, contain some of the first hard numbers and details on how Amazon pays virtually no tax for its non-US earnings, including in Australia. Last month, the European Commission announced an investigation into the secret 2003 advance tax agreement Amazon struck with Luxembourg that is the key to its global tax strategy. The Luxembourg documents show not only the extent of the related-party transactions in Amazon's Luxembourg companies but how Amazon has changed its tax strategy after investigation by French tax authorities and the US Internal Revenue Service. The change is so dramatic it raises questions whether the European Commission is targeting the right transactions."
Paraphrasing John Gilmore:Corporations interpret taxation as damage and route around it.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
Cool, the people involved in this are going before a jury, right? ...right?
No.
And it's worth noting that Apple and Microsoft do the same thing, but because they're paying Slashdot, we're being set onto one of their competitors instead, like the baying pack of dogs we are.
Not only will no executives be on trial for tax evasion, and not only will they not lose any of the fortunes they have been amassing as "bonuses", but we will soon be hearing about how Amazon is broke and taxes are unfair for a company the size of Amazon (it's only good for us commoners to keep us common).
Oh wait, a few threads are already making those latter claims...
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
Essentially what Luxembourg is doing here is offering tax collection as a service. Luxembourg collects a small percentage but much more than they would get otherwise, since Amazon et al. don't do much business in Luxembourg and offers these large corporations a legal shield against other countries' taxes.
This would appear to be a bug in the international tax system.
Amazon is making a shitload of profit, they're just shifting the profits around by having their holdings that doesn't pay these taxes charge them a 'fee' to reduce the amount of profit they 'have'.
Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
They're just playing the game that's being played, they all do it. For example: Apple's Tax Strategy
They'd be incompetent if they didn't. You can order your own tax sandwich here (pdf)
Just Fucking Google It.
They're just playing the game that's being played, they all do it. For example: Apple's Tax Strategy
No, much of their local competition in book sales etc (not being international companies with multiple subsidiaries in the EU) are not doing this. Apple etc's competitors are generally multinationals who also play these tricks. But in many cases Amazon's are not, and the effects of tax abuse are that much more problematic as they don't only affect tax revenue but also distort the market.
This time it's Amazon becuase of damning evidence, that's why it's them this time and not Apple or Microsoft.
However there's more to come and it looks like there's something on Rupert Murdoch's companies (Fox, Newscorp etc) in the documents.
eh? fairness? People have to pay taxes, so should companies!
Thank you, Bradley Manning, Edward Snowden and so many others, for courageously defending humanity, my freedom and more!
It's so stupid for countries to each have their own special tax exemptions thinking they can lure in some extra companies. The end result is that big companies have meaningless (=no extra jobs but empty buildings) box offices everywhere and effectively pay no taxes. Anywhere! So in the end the countries not only receive no benefits, but also less taxes from their own companies. And it heavily favors big companies over smaller ones. But I guess politics are too corrupt and big companies are paying too much 'lobbying' money to keep this stuff going.
Thank you, Bradley Manning, Edward Snowden and so many others, for courageously defending humanity, my freedom and more!
"There will always be tax loopholes" No that's the result of politics, it could easily change.
Thank you, Bradley Manning, Edward Snowden and so many others, for courageously defending humanity, my freedom and more!
No. I pay taxes because it's my duty to society.
I also don't rob banks, because I consider it an obligation to society not to do so.
Perhaps you are a sociopath, and we need threats of violence to control people like you but not all of us are that way.
Yes the pass the taxes along to the consumers ... in a market where most stores has to charge taxes for one reason or another, to have a store that doesn't creates unfair competition.
The law needs to be changed one way or the other but a change is needed.
This is also the labor issue and many other ones that come to light with global presence