U.S. to investigate planned French tax on Apple, other tech giants [u]

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 69
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    This seems eminently sensible, I hope it takes off across the EU.  American multinationals have been abusing the structure of the EU for a long time.  MEUGA!
    GeorgeBMacronn
  • Reply 22 of 69
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    Essentially Trump is anti-tax anythiing --- of course he is.   He's a billionaire conman who doesn't have to worry about anything -- except paying his taxes.  

    So, he finds ways to avoid paying taxes himself while blocking countries (including the U.S.) from collecting the taxes they need to operate.
    At present he is sending the U.S. over a fiscal cliff by, instead of reducing our debt during times of peace and prosperity, he increased it by a Trillion $ a year by cutting our revenue to give a windfall to the U.S  1%.

    France is simply taking the fiscal responsible step of making sure it can pay its bills.   Trump figures we'll all just declare bankruptcy and move on --- just as he does.

    But, FauxNews will spin it that he's looking out for America and Americans and the cult will buy t.   They always do.
    williamlondonavon b7foregoneconclusionronnsingularity
  • Reply 23 of 69
    Go get ‘em, Mr. President.
    Why? What's to be gained? Tariffs have already proven to be a failure with China.
    ronnGeorgeBMac
  • Reply 24 of 69
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member
    entropys said:
    How dare France try to level the playing field.  

    Tax-dodging multinationals have an unfair advantage over small local companies who can’t base their operations in tax havens.
    If US and other foreign corporates were “dodging” tax the solution would be to close the loophole. That France isn’t doing so and instead proposing a new tax suggests there is no dodging and France is exercising its usual protectionist approach to justify its over regulated inefficiencies. Any French company caught up in this tax would be looked after in other ways. In other words, France in reality wants to tip the playing field to make better companies than their domestic mates run uphill.
    To your point, when content piracy was at its height back in the 2000's, Frances solution was to put a 25% tax on every storage device sold in France even ones sold in a DVR which has intended purpose to record video content consumer want and could not be share beyond the home. Their justification was that everyone was stealing content and were not paying creators. Not sure how much of the 25% when to content creators since they can not prove which created were having their content stolen by French citizens. I still believe this tax is in place in France and consumers are paying the French government for what only a few people actually ever did.
    cat52
  • Reply 25 of 69
    maestro64maestro64 Posts: 5,043member
    Go get ‘em, Mr. President.
    Why? What's to be gained? Tariffs have already proven to be a failure with China.
    Please share your data on how its a failure, I think we're yrs away from knowing the real affect.

    What we do know, a number of the world's largest manufactures are pulling manufacturing out of China. I think this will translate to less Chinese working. The US manufacturing sectors is grow so this translates to more US citizens working. Yep real failure there. China economy is still highly dependent on US consumers and US manufactures are not going to absorb the add cost and US company are really good at finding low cost solutions to a problem. 

    Here is a stat for you of the $300B that is being threaten to be tariff coming out of China Apple represents $167B of the it, if Apple pulls it all out and they will not, this will have a huge impact on China with one company. China can not afford the US fortune 500 or 1000 to move manufacturing to Vietnam, Malaysia, Indian and various other countries, Once they pull out it is not going to be easy to bring them back. The only way that happens China will have to lower its labor costs which has been raising for the last 15 yrs. they are no longer the lowest cost market to make products. 
    anantksundaramcat52
  • Reply 26 of 69
    spice-boyspice-boy Posts: 1,450member
    Go get ‘em, Mr. President.
    You mean Macron?
    GeorgeBMac
  • Reply 27 of 69
    spice-boyspice-boy Posts: 1,450member

    apple ][ said:
    Punch 'em back real hard! :#

    Two can play at this game!

    Broke, desperate and corrupt Euroheads should look elsewhere for their extortion schemes, because we still got some cards left in our deck that we haven't yet played.
    ohhh what a scary threat. part of being an a big corporation which sells products and services internationally is obey tax laws in those different sovereign states. every big company knows this and understands they must obey or should pull out a country. its is obviously still profitable for Apple and the others to be there so stop saying "we" as in you have any say in any of this and don't expect the US government to do anything on the behalf of corporations based in US since nothing can be done. 
    GeorgeBMacronn
  • Reply 28 of 69
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    maestro64 said:
    Go get ‘em, Mr. President.
    Why? What's to be gained? Tariffs have already proven to be a failure with China.
    Please share your data on how its a failure, I think we're yrs away from knowing the real affect.

    What we do know, a number of the world's largest manufactures are pulling manufacturing out of China. I think this will translate to less Chinese working. The US manufacturing sectors is grow so this translates to more US citizens working. Yep real failure there. China economy is still highly dependent on US consumers and US manufactures are not going to absorb the add cost and US company are really good at finding low cost solutions to a problem. 

    Here is a stat for you of the $300B that is being threaten to be tariff coming out of China Apple represents $167B of the it, if Apple pulls it all out and they will not, this will have a huge impact on China with one company. China can not afford the US fortune 500 or 1000 to move manufacturing to Vietnam, Malaysia, Indian and various other countries, Once they pull out it is not going to be easy to bring them back. The only way that happens China will have to lower its labor costs which has been raising for the last 15 yrs. they are no longer the lowest cost market to make products. 
    Evidence?   Here's one of the latest...

    Wall Street banks bailing on troubled U.S. farm sector


    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-farmers-lending-insight/wall-street-banks-bailing-on-troubled-u-s-farm-sector-idUSKCN1U618F

    It's why Trump is now begging China to buy our products.  He knows that if the U.S. agriculture industry collapses from his misguided policies he will lose in 2020 -- and for him that could mean jail time.  Currently, as president, the justice department has declared him to be above the law.


  • Reply 29 of 69
    nhtnht Posts: 4,522member
    Go get ‘em, Mr. President.
    Why? What's to be gained? Tariffs have already proven to be a failure with China.
    How is it a failure?  The war only just started and you are declaring defeat?
    anantksundaramcat52
  • Reply 30 of 69
    nhtnht Posts: 4,522member

    maestro64 said:
    Go get ‘em, Mr. President.
    Why? What's to be gained? Tariffs have already proven to be a failure with China.
    Please share your data on how its a failure, I think we're yrs away from knowing the real affect.

    What we do know, a number of the world's largest manufactures are pulling manufacturing out of China. I think this will translate to less Chinese working. The US manufacturing sectors is grow so this translates to more US citizens working. Yep real failure there. China economy is still highly dependent on US consumers and US manufactures are not going to absorb the add cost and US company are really good at finding low cost solutions to a problem. 

    Here is a stat for you of the $300B that is being threaten to be tariff coming out of China Apple represents $167B of the it, if Apple pulls it all out and they will not, this will have a huge impact on China with one company. China can not afford the US fortune 500 or 1000 to move manufacturing to Vietnam, Malaysia, Indian and various other countries, Once they pull out it is not going to be easy to bring them back. The only way that happens China will have to lower its labor costs which has been raising for the last 15 yrs. they are no longer the lowest cost market to make products. 
    Evidence?   Here's one of the latest...

    Wall Street banks bailing on troubled U.S. farm sector


    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-farmers-lending-insight/wall-street-banks-bailing-on-troubled-u-s-farm-sector-idUSKCN1U618F

    It's why Trump is now begging China to buy our products.  He knows that if the U.S. agriculture industry collapses from his misguided policies he will lose in 2020 -- and for him that could mean jail time.  Currently, as president, the justice department has declared him to be above the law.


    Yes, one sector is hurting.  But how is it obviously a failure for the entire country?  Our largest export sector is service not goods.  The travel and transportation sector was $236B.   Food, beverage and feed was $133B.  Service industries represent 71% of US jobs and $778B in exports.

    https://money.cnn.com/2018/03/07/news/economy/top-us-exports/index.html

    anantksundaramcat52
  • Reply 31 of 69
    avon b7avon b7 Posts: 7,691member
    maestro64 said:
    Go get ‘em, Mr. President.
    Why? What's to be gained? Tariffs have already proven to be a failure with China.
    Please share your data on how its a failure, I think we're yrs away from knowing the real affect.

    What we do know, a number of the world's largest manufactures are pulling manufacturing out of China. I think this will translate to less Chinese working. The US manufacturing sectors is grow so this translates to more US citizens working. Yep real failure there. China economy is still highly dependent on US consumers and US manufactures are not going to absorb the add cost and US company are really good at finding low cost solutions to a problem. 

    Here is a stat for you of the $300B that is being threaten to be tariff coming out of China Apple represents $167B of the it, if Apple pulls it all out and they will not, this will have a huge impact on China with one company. China can not afford the US fortune 500 or 1000 to move manufacturing to Vietnam, Malaysia, Indian and various other countries, Once they pull out it is not going to be easy to bring them back. The only way that happens China will have to lower its labor costs which has been raising for the last 15 yrs. they are no longer the lowest cost market to make products. 
    Vietnam, Malaysia and India are not straight swaps. They do not have anywhere near the capacity to cover all Chinese production and are very likely to suffer tariffs at some point too (under Trump at least). They do not have enough specialised manufacturing capability either. 

    China is beginning to have enough domestic demand to compensate for firms pulling out and because of Trump and Tariffs, the entire world is looking for U.S alternatives.

    So, currently, the U.S consumer is paying the cost of tariffs. The U.S government has pumped 23 billion dollars into agriculture to keep farms financially viable and just about every U.S business collective has pleaded directly to the U.S government for no further tariffs to be applied. Forecasting catastrophe if they are.

    On the other hand the Chinese have stated they will play the waiting game and are demonstrating they are in no rush to seek a solution.

    Yes, the real impact will be seen in a few years. Yes, there will be permanent damage but it might not be to who you think.

    I think the Chinese have decided to sit things out until the next U.S election.
    edited July 2019 anantksundaramronnGeorgeBMac
  • Reply 32 of 69
    roakeroake Posts: 811member
    Go get ‘em, Mr. President.
    Why? What's to be gained? Tariffs have already proven to be a failure with China.
    No, they haven’t.
    edited July 2019 cat52
  • Reply 33 of 69
    avon b7avon b7 Posts: 7,691member
    roake said:
    Go get ‘em, Mr. President.
    Why? What's to be gained? Tariffs have already proven to be a failure with China.
    No, they haven’t.
    If the direct impact on farmers wasn't already enough, now this:

    https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/11/wall-street-banks-are-bailing-on-troubled-american-farmers-amid-us-china-trade-war.html

    And the 'little' stories like this:

    https://www.wgbh.org/news/local-news/2019/07/10/gloucester-lobster-industry-feeling-the-pinch-from-china-trade-war

    If you start adding all this up and see a picture where business could be lost, never to come back and those same businesses have to reduce prices because they cannot compete but many have loans to pay off, it gets worrying.

    Scale things up a bit and new problems hit the radar:

    https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/11/fastenal-just-gave-us-a-glimpse-into-this-earnings-season-as-it-tanks-on-tariff-costs.html

    When Trump is baling some out with subsidies but others are left with nothing, resentment won't take long to set in.

    Remember, he said trade wars were quick and easy to win. People will begin to question that in the run up to elections.
    edited July 2019 ronn
  • Reply 34 of 69
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,404member
    shrek said:

    I don't see this tax hike (from 20% to 23% in France) something very significant nor aimed against US companies.

    What makes you convinced that is where it'll stop? Or that other countries in the EU and elsewhere won't start to do the same? What do you think that will do to tech companies?
    edited July 2019 cat52
  • Reply 35 of 69
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,404member
    ireland said:
    Excellent. Let's see a tax on every Danone yogurt, Airbus plane, Schneider circuit breaker, bottle of champagne, Dior perfume, L'Oreal cosmetic, Air France ticket, and Michelin tire sold in the US.

    They'll come around pretty quickly.
    No, fair is fair. ALL mega-rich companies should pay more tax.
    Most corporate taxes are passed-through to consumers. Exactly similar to tariffs. So it's simply a feel-good, head-in-the-sand measure.
    cat52
  • Reply 36 of 69
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,404member

    shrek said:
    Excellent. Let's see a tax on every Danone yogurt, Airbus plane, Schneider circuit breaker, bottle of champagne, Dior perfume, L'Oreal cosmetic, Air France ticket, and Michelin tire sold in the US.

    I think that this will be illegal by WTO rules (and probably some US laws as well). If US wants to implement taxes in same fashion as France then tax should be implemented in non-discriminatory way:  to every  item in product group (not handpicking companies, brands, countries of origin etc). Tax can be levied based on price (for example every plane, sparkling wine or perfume which cost more than certain amount).

    It would be surprising if US declares Danone yogurt as matter of national security, but you never know :-).
    There are lots of workarounds to WTO rules. Moreover, they take forever to adjudicate and implement. In any event, the WTO appears to have become largely irrelevant in the age of Trump: I am not aware of any successful WTO challenges to any of his trade policies.

    And, in this instance, while it is supposed to be 'non-discriminatory' (in WTO parlance), everyone knows that there are not a whole heck of a lot of "large internet companies" that are non-US (except for a couple here and there, e.g., Spotify).*

    *While China does have many large internet companies, they don't really operate in the EU.
    cat52
  • Reply 37 of 69
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,404member

    avon b7 said:

    It's not a proposal targeting U.S companies. It targets all companies in the sector who go over a certain threshold.


    How many such non-US companies are there that have >$750M in global revenues and $28M in French revenues? I'd like to see a list if you have it.
    cat52
  • Reply 38 of 69
    avon b7avon b7 Posts: 7,691member

    avon b7 said:

    It's not a proposal targeting U.S companies. It targets all companies in the sector who go over a certain threshold.


    How many such non-US companies are there that have >$750M in global revenues and $28M in French revenues? I'd like to see a list if you have it.
    How many there are or aren't is irrelevant. If the taxes are deemed to be too much, these companies have options. Pass costs on to consumers, downscale or pull out.

    The real question is why there isn't more competition in the areas that the firms you mention currently dominate.

    Ultimately, this kind of tax could help smaller players. And we have all heard the rumblings from some areas that seem to favor a big tech break up.
    ronn
  • Reply 39 of 69
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,404member
    avon b7 said:

    avon b7 said:

    It's not a proposal targeting U.S companies. It targets all companies in the sector who go over a certain threshold.


    How many such non-US companies are there that have >$750M in global revenues and $28M in French revenues? I'd like to see a list if you have it.
    How many there are or aren't is irrelevant. If the taxes are deemed to be too much, these companies have options. Pass costs on to consumers, downscale or pull out.

    The real question is why there isn't more competition in the areas that the firms you mention currently dominate.

    Ultimately, this kind of tax could help smaller players. And we have all heard the rumblings from some areas that seem to favor a big tech break up.
    Of course it is relevant. France's definition is qualitatively no different from the US imposing a tax on all yogurts from anywhere in the world whose names begin with a D and end with an E.

    As to why there isn't more competition, the EU had a poor history with globally competitive tech/digital products (except for a brief while when they shone with telecom and then got out-innovated by the likes of Apple), and pretty much all of the significant tech in Asia -- China, Taiwan, Korea, even Japan until a generation ago -- is based on IP knock-offs.

    "Rumblings that favor big tech break-ups" are just that: rumblings. Let's check back if/when something tangible happens.
    cat52
  • Reply 40 of 69
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    nht said:

    maestro64 said:
    Go get ‘em, Mr. President.
    Why? What's to be gained? Tariffs have already proven to be a failure with China.
    Please share your data on how its a failure, I think we're yrs away from knowing the real affect.

    What we do know, a number of the world's largest manufactures are pulling manufacturing out of China. I think this will translate to less Chinese working. The US manufacturing sectors is grow so this translates to more US citizens working. Yep real failure there. China economy is still highly dependent on US consumers and US manufactures are not going to absorb the add cost and US company are really good at finding low cost solutions to a problem. 

    Here is a stat for you of the $300B that is being threaten to be tariff coming out of China Apple represents $167B of the it, if Apple pulls it all out and they will not, this will have a huge impact on China with one company. China can not afford the US fortune 500 or 1000 to move manufacturing to Vietnam, Malaysia, Indian and various other countries, Once they pull out it is not going to be easy to bring them back. The only way that happens China will have to lower its labor costs which has been raising for the last 15 yrs. they are no longer the lowest cost market to make products. 
    Evidence?   Here's one of the latest...

    Wall Street banks bailing on troubled U.S. farm sector


    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-farmers-lending-insight/wall-street-banks-bailing-on-troubled-u-s-farm-sector-idUSKCN1U618F

    It's why Trump is now begging China to buy our products.  He knows that if the U.S. agriculture industry collapses from his misguided policies he will lose in 2020 -- and for him that could mean jail time.  Currently, as president, the justice department has declared him to be above the law.


    Yes, one sector is hurting.  But how is it obviously a failure for the entire country?  Our largest export sector is service not goods.  The travel and transportation sector was $236B.   Food, beverage and feed was $133B.  Service industries represent 71% of US jobs and $778B in exports.

    https://money.cnn.com/2018/03/07/news/economy/top-us-exports/index.html

    LOL...  I didn't say that was the ONLY thing...

    We also have the Fed promising to bail Trump out  with a rate cut because his trade war is, according the Powell, introducing risks and instabilities to the economy.

    And didn't we recently have 600 CEOs sending him a letter telling him to "Back Off Fool! -

    So far, Trump's trade war has only succeeded in disrupting the U.S. economy.   That sounds like a failure to me.
    ronn
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