Merz calls for EU to suspend global minimum tax after US exit
Speaking after a meeting with Bavaria's state Cabinet atop the Zugspitze mountain, Germany's highest peak, Merz said that continuing with the 15% minimum tax in Europe would put the continent’s economy at a disadvantage.
Gottverdammte Scheiße, Fritz. Trump says jump and you jump. What happened to Europe becoming more independent from the US?
Fick dich Friedrich
Fock dich *Fotzenfritz
From a game-theory standpoint (which markets are an instance of such a game) he is not even incorrect. If we tax someone at 15%, while the US doesn't they will take their business there (if possible). This is not a normative statement, this sucks and will lead to the world's destruction (literally wiht global warming, and the same for arms races and war). But is is correct.
Here is my (semi) hot take: To really change anything in the world you cannot be game-theoretically naive. We cannot just by cynnical like the market-liberals, because they are willing to sacrifice the planet and humans for their goals.
We need to be post-cynical. Recognising that just claiming the morally right thing will never get us the power to change anything and just striving for the power to change will make us just as evil as them. If we want to change things for the better we have to hold them both in mind.
If we tax someone at 15%, while the US doesn't they will take their business there (if possible).
Not necessarily. If that were universally true, all multinational companies would have their seat in the country with the cheapest taxes, which they clearly do not. There are other factors. But yes, it's one of them.
Anyway, what he should do is fight against the exemption for US companies, especially after Trump now wants to hit the EU with his 30% tariffs anyway, so it doesn't even get us anything.
Alas, he was, until very recently, a Black Rock employee, which is, you may or may not know it, a US company. He is also a far right neoliberal known for favoring corporations and the rich. It's very obvious that the US exemption plays right into his cards and dismantling the whole minimum tax, which is easily the single greatest multinational achievement since World War 2, was always on his agenda.
To really change anything in the world you cannot be game-theoretically naive.
The global minimum tax isn't that. It literally wouldn't matter if the USA were in or out, because the broad global agreement means, if the Americans don't collect the 15%, some other country can and will. Trump just threatened the G7 into granting an exception, which could have been avoided if they had spines and took a stand.
They never intended to follow through, or do it so anyone can easily defect the agreement.
The US has real power. Economically and military power. There is a reason they published their plans to invade the Hague should any American be convicted at the ICC. Some similar arrangement would be found with this.
You have to think as cynically as possible, the people in power will too. Then think of something that all sides avoid that thing or you will be thrown under the bus by however holds power.
Not necessarily. If that were universally true, all multinational companies would have their seat in the country with the cheapest taxes, which they clearly do not. There are other factors. But yes, it’s one of them.
You're correct in that it's not universally true, but their premise is mostly accurate. Especially in a world which increasingly sees income generated by low-friction IT services. These can be easily relocated.
The global minimum tax isn’t that. It literally wouldn’t matter if the USA were in or out, because the broad global agreement means, if the Americans don’t collect the 15%, some other country can and will.
I'm not sure you understand how this tax treaty is intended to work, or in fact how income taxes work with regards to tax domiciles. Business tax is levied against profit accrued in the location in which the sale is ascribed. Microsoft can sell a German an Office license, and they are liable for zero tax on any profit if the sale is from the U.S. entity. However any products sold in Germany are liable for VAT, and that requires a tax presence. VAT is outside the scope of this tax treaty. It is concerned almost exclusively with tax on profit. By instituting a floor, it doesn't matter if Microsoft domiciles in Germany or Ireland. They're subject the same minimum taxation on profit. This avoids situations like the Double Irish Dutch Sandwich.
The user above is correct: if the U.S. won't impose a tax floor, companies can and will relocate their (at least for tax purposes), if their tax floor (including subsidies and exemptions) is lower.
I think it's time to have a radical rethink of taxation, because this race to the bottom appears inevitable. We will never get every country to sign up to this, and in a world where profit is increasingly driven by IT services, it is easier than ever to domicile in a tax friendly country. I propose the following:
Enlighten me, fellow community members: This appears to be just some kind of recently created repost-bot that automatically and immediately links articles - is this considered spam around here and should be reported or is this desired behavior?
Op was on lemm.ee before moving, his contributions aren't a recent thing. If he would be what you call a repost-bot the links would likely be from more random low-quality sources and also wouldn't be neatly posted to the most relevant community.
Op was on lemm.ee before moving, his contributions aren’t a recent thing.
Ah, I see - do you just happen to know them or is there a way to check for this kind of thing?
If he would be what you call a repost-bot the links would likely be from more random low-quality sources and also wouldn’t be neatly posted to the most relevant community.
I might be wrong about the nature of the account, that's why I'm asking after all, but I wouldn't agree with that definition at all.
What I see here is an account with 264 Posts (8 per day!) and a mere 3 Comments and that just doesn't look like a person interested in engaging with other persons but like an automatism to deliberately pump content into communities - which in turn rings my alarm bells.
Merz should just fucking die together with his minister and his whole party
Fotzen Fritze does what Fotzen Fritze was expected to do
Yes, of course.
Soon we’ll have to ignore these stories coming out of the alternative universes our leaders seem to operate in and start making our own narratives. There’s just no way to engage with their world anymore.
Yes there is. 👨🚒👩🚒