Uber assigns "its IP to Bermuda, leaving less than 2% of its revenue taxable by the US"

Even the word offenders will use that bullet point. Much the same way that Pop Tarts are marketed as “Real fruit and a source of vitamins and minerals” and other companies are “greenwashed.” After all, a company paying money to an overseas subsidiary for the use of its own company name and other IP, is still paying taxes in the US. Just not as much.

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Wow. It sounds so simple. This is what people must mean when they talk about the banality of evil.

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Your genius is on fire today, Sir or madam!

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Outrageous but not surprising given the techno-libertarian views of their founders.

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Britain cracked down on this. The upshot is that another entity is needed in a third country. (The Double Irish arrangement and Dutch Sandwich.)

Another advantage of your island subsidiary is that they can buy whatever raw materials your company needs, and sell it to you at high margins. This effectively transfers your profits to the tax haven.

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lost of Uber hate here. Not really an Uber user so I have no opinion on the company. I’m more worried about Pfizer, Merck, Google, and Apple. Those companies are screwing us all over and they aren’t the only ones. The problem is not that these companies are evil but rather that once public, these companies have an obligation to increase shareholder value. As a result, they will use any legal loophole necessary to squeeze out every penny.
Blaming these companies is easy and it feels good but the problem is the lawmakers who are refusing to change the laws to make this sort of activity illegal. Blame the politicians who rigged the game, not the players who play it.

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We’ll just have to require transit brokers to have offices in the states they operate in for safety and count the transaction as being processed there.

Or tariffs on these companies operating in the US.

The real problem with tiny island tax havens is how easy they are to annex.

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"Military of Aruba

Defense on Aruba is the responsibility of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Netherlands Military forces that protect Aruba include the Royal Netherlands Navy, the Netherlands Marine Corps and the Netherlands Coastguard. There is also a small indigenous “Arubaanse Militie” (ARUMIL) of about platoon strength. All forces are stationed at Marines Barracks Savaneta."

A whole platoon to protect 62 billion in market cap. Hell - Aruba should just nationalize Uber & sell it off. Set for a few decades.

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If “politicians rigged the game”, it’s because they’re funded to do so. Companies don’t hold thousand dollar a plate campaign fundraisers merely to celebrate the democratic process.

For all the faux-complaining you hear about the tax system being complicated, it’s the corporations - with their owned and operated politicians - who keep demanding that all those complications (tax loopholes) be added.

The US recently experienced industry-wide mortgage fraud turned industry-wide investment fraud turned multi-trillion-dollar taxpayer bailout. Not only did those responsible get away with it - and the money - but their lobbying (the polite word for bribery) ensured that any new laws stopping them from doing it again have since been neutered in Congress.

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If I offered you $10,000 to screw over your family by airing all of their embarrassing secrets, would you? Some would, some would not.
If you chose to take the cash, do we blame me for offering the money or you for taking it?

exactly my point. It’s the bought and paid for politician who is to blame. Not the one who buys them.

I don’t buy it. (The argument, not the politician.)

You can have perfectly honest politicians. And they’ll quickly be replaced, because the ones willing to be bought and paid for will have all the campaign funds.

At some point you need to assign some blame to those buying them.

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Maybe it’s time for Uber to become a worker owned co-op so they could only tax evade if the majority of drivers wanted it.

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Sure, if you call 6 years quick. Every congress person has 6 years to do the right thing or take bribes and do the wrong thing. By passing the blame on companies who legally lobby instead of the lawmakers who renamed naked corruption and bribery lobbying, you rail against the wrong thing, IMO. Only the politicians have the power to change and create the laws so let’s hold them accountable for the laws which they create.

In some jurisdictions, bribing a public official is illegal. The person doing the bribing is charged.

The courts/police/FBI need to speak out (or act) more often.

Everytime someone uses Uber, we can accuse them off supporting tax havens.

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Easy! By people using a different service instead of theirs.

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This cannot be legal.

If it is legal, it must be made illegal.

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It is legal.

And it is common practice.

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The really messed up thing here is that the streets and highways that allows Uber to be a thing are largely funded through tax dollars. Tax dollars they aren’t contributing to.

Fuck these guys.

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