Meanwhile in tax haven

[Vibe]

Yes, but again -- so? My heart's pumping piss-water for the government and their legal money. If I were rich, I wouldn't want to give a cut of my profits to the government either, just so politicians can spend it on something useless. Or worse than useless. It's in the interest of the state that people are concerned about what's "legal" and that they get their "just" taxes, but it's not in your interest to be concerned about it.

Well, what the government does with our money (or well, doesn't) is a different issue

[Turkhammer]

Xant most tax systems work on compliance.  Most people comply because of feared consequences.  Most people get upset and angry when they see other people, that consider themselves above the law, not pay their share.  If prison sentences and confiscations result from this, then it has the salutary effect that crime doesn't always pay and that sometimes the big boys get taken down, no matter how much smarter they think they are than everyone else.  Concrete evidence is much harder to ignore than rumor and supposition.

[Grytviken]

  There's nothing illegal about having offshore accounts as long as you pay taxes on them to your home country if you decide to bring it back. They are there collecting tax free high interest.  Interest and timed deposits are considered tax exempt income in Panama so if you had a million sitting in a savings account you would be making 80,000 dollars a year tax free.

 But if you were a crooked politician from some 3rd world country who could avoid paying taxes bringing it home you would be living like a mafioso for sure.

[Xant]

Xant most tax systems work on compliance.  Most people comply because of feared consequences.  Most people get upset and angry when they see other people, that consider themselves above the law, not pay their share.  If prison sentences and confiscations result from this, then it has the salutary effect that crime doesn't always pay and that sometimes the big boys get taken down, no matter how much smarter they think they are than everyone else.  Concrete evidence is much harder to ignore than rumor and supposition.

Yes, but - and I realize I've said this over and over - so what?

It makes no difference for the average Joe. They're going to pay their taxes regardless, because if they don't, they go to prison.

I understand why this makes people emotional, I'm just trying to make the point that it really shouldn't make you emotional, that's just the monkey in your brain. It's of no consequence, rationally.

Big boys play by big boy rules, and will continue to do so. The amount of money involved in evading taxes for these billion dollar companies is so much that the only thing that'll change is that they won't make the same mistakes again and will be smarter about their tax evasion.

[Molly]

Tbh I willingly pay taxes.
Am I happy with the amount? No, not really. Less would be nice.
But I do see and accept the necessity of the system and certainly like my roads paved and public places clean.
I am boring that way.

[Overdriven]

Most of these rich arseholes doing it are so rich it would make no damn difference to them to pay full tax. It's just plain greedy having money for the sake of having money. If they get caught in the process then that's a good thing regardless of how much it affects our lives in real terms.

[Kafein]

Don't understand why anyone cares about this shit

The total amount of money involved is just silly, to the point that evasion has a serious impact on your country's budget. Whether that concerns you or not is for you to decide. And yes while it is impossible to eliminate the issue entirely (taxes being effectively regressive through evasion is really what we're talking about here), it's doesn't mean there's no point in taking steps against it. Actually, even with little effort the right people in the right places of the judicial system can and do make wonders. Considering that international finance is almost integrally *designed* to make evasion easy and legal, yes there are things to do. Not anything to be emotional about, sure, but then again nothing is. Awareness and complacency are two different things.

Also, Overdriven is absolutely taking this emotionally.

[Leshma]

Old lady living in old hut at mountain top in middle of nowhere had her electricity cut (it's miracle that network has come to that place) because she couldn't pay her bills with her minuscule 50 euro pension. Debt was around 200 euro.

Huge factory, previously public property (communism) now owned by shady businessman with close ties to politicians in power. Inherited debt for electricity over 200 million euros plus 50 million since new owner bought factory for roughly 1 Serbian dinar (8 euro cents). Electricity is still being delivered to that factory which uses it in most inefficient manner. Not a single person interested in fixing huge financial leak for state-owned electricity company. It is paid by citizen taxes, after all...

This little story is nice illustration what is going on, at some parts of our planet it is much worse (highly corrupted regions like Russia) and little better at some. But there isn't a single place where this doesn't happen at all. That is why is nice having proof, hopefully someone is crazy enough (like Snowden) to put his life on the line in order to minimize if not stop the abuse of strong vs. weak.

[Xant]

The total amount of money involved is just silly, to the point that evasion has a serious impact on your country's budget. Whether that concerns you or not is for you to decide. And yes while it is impossible to eliminate the issue entirely (taxes being effectively regressive through evasion is really what we're talking about here), it's doesn't mean there's no point in taking steps against it. Actually, even with little effort the right people in the right places of the judicial system can and do make wonders. Considering that international finance is almost integrally *designed* to make evasion easy and legal, yes there are things to do. Not anything to be emotional about, sure, but then again nothing is. Awareness and complacency are two different things.

Also, Overdriven is absolutely taking this emotionally.

No one has said that steps shouldn't be taken against it. It just shouldn't concern you unless you work for your country's IRS. No one makes a big deal about what IRS does on the regular, but suddenly it's very interesting because the media says it is.

It's nice that traffic lights work and someone goes out there and maintains them, but that doesn't mean it's terribly interesting to me, personally, and I don't see why it would be to someone else either, even if the media's breaking news was that humans maintain traffic lights, not magic. I certainly don't see what the point of talking about it is.

It's just funny how the government's self-serving agenda is (once again) swallowed whole by The People as their own, because, by golly, no one should be doing X if I can't do X. Basic human jealousy.

[Vibe]

Iceland's PM resigns
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35966412

It's nice that traffic lights work and someone goes out there and maintains them, but that doesn't mean it's terribly interesting to me, personally, and I don't see why it would be to someone else either, even if the media's breaking news was that humans maintain traffic lights, not magic. I certainly don't see what the point of talking about it is.

It becomes interesting when you need a doctor or a certain piece of medical equipment but there wasn't any money for it. The point of talking? Well I'm guessing most of us just like to see greedy rich people who think they're above the law getting fucked.

[Falka]

It's nice that traffic lights work and someone goes out there and maintains them, but that doesn't mean it's terribly interesting to me, personally, and I don't see why it would be to someone else either, even if the media's breaking news was that humans maintain traffic lights, not magic. I certainly don't see what the point of talking abou

As long as the  traffic lights work there's nothing to talk about, you're right.

[Umbra]

If you dont find it personally interesting feel free to move along, go to the sauna and drink your Finnish depression away.
3 Croatian firms listed too, i wonder whose head will roll this time. On a side note 280k euro and 2gold bars were taken from the Cro police hq. 

Nothing like some balkan corruption.

[Kafein]

No one has said that steps shouldn't be taken against it. It just shouldn't concern you unless you work for your country's IRS. No one makes a big deal about what IRS does on the regular, but suddenly it's very interesting because the media says it is.

It's nice that traffic lights work and someone goes out there and maintains them, but that doesn't mean it's terribly interesting to me, personally, and I don't see why it would be to someone else either, even if the media's breaking news was that humans maintain traffic lights, not magic. I certainly don't see what the point of talking about it is.

It's just funny how the government's self-serving agenda is (once again) swallowed whole by The People as their own, because, by golly, no one should be doing X if I can't do X. Basic human jealousy.

What's your point? That revenue services being more efficient at tracking fraud is not beneficial (though indirectly) to people who would pay their taxes anyway? It is a completely self-serving position to hold for them (and only for them, indeed).

[Xant]

What's your point? That revenue services being more efficient at tracking fraud is not beneficial (though indirectly) to people who would pay their taxes anyway? It is a completely self-serving position to hold for them (and only for them, indeed).

Make a prediction. What good will come out of this? What do you expect to happen? What concrete thing is going to change?

As long as the  traffic lights work there's nothing to talk about, you're right.

Taxation is working as intended.

[Kafein]

Make a prediction. What good will come out of this? What do you expect to happen? What concrete thing is going to change?

This what? I'm talking about tax evasion in general. And yes, I expect that more money coming in via an increase in tax efficiency does lead to more public services, less public debt and less taxation eventually.