comment by notseamus

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notseamus · 4793 days ago · link · · parent · post: Google's tax evasion.

It might be a common scheme, but it is still playing a game that doesn't reflect reality, but enables Google to evade taxation. Google didn't develop the technology in Ireland, and the subsidiary only exists to help Google evade taxation.

That's not so true of Google as it is of other brass plate companies. Apple and Google operate offices here, but there are lots of companies that have one or two staff on the rolls and just funnel the money through Ireland without doing anything.

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mk · 4792 days ago · link ·

Maybe it's a bit more comforting to know they make a real effort to keep up the illusion, but if it weren't for the tax evasion benefit, I doubt there would be much of a presence there, if any.

+discuss+discuss

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notseamus · 4792 days ago · link ·

They do need a European base (Apple's Europe service centre and call centres are in Cork), but would they choose Ireland if not for the tax? Maybe not (although English speaking is a benefit).

Unfortunately it's not going away soon as it's the only thing keeping Ireland afloat right now and the only way the economy is going to grow and the only way IMF money will get paid back, so there's no will to change the status quo.

+discuss+discuss

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mk · 4792 days ago · link ·

I hear you. But, that status quo might be getting an update...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/11/08/...

IMHO it seems very likely that the IMF's needs will far outpace it's ability to get paid.

+discuss+discuss

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notseamus · 4792 days ago · link ·

Yeah, I think Ireland's convinced everyone that they're not Greece, now Italy is wading in…

* The country is planning an additional 12.4 billion euros ($17.1 billion) of austerity measures over the next four years*

Or why I won't be working in Ireland…

+discuss+discuss

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mk · 4792 days ago · link ·

I just don't get it. What is all this austerity for? Is the Euro really worth it? I mean, is it really to Ireland, or Greece's benefit to hang in there and take one for the team? This could mean a decade of stagnation or more.

+discuss+discuss

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notseamus · 4791 days ago · link ·

The problem is pretty complex and really was exacerbated because of the last government guaranteeing private debts held by the banks. The consensus is that this was a terrible idea and that they could have ringfenced people's deposits and dealt with it differently, but it was a EU led decision (Germany and France have large exposure to Irish debt). The same government for years encouraged a massive housing bubble (a house in Dublin went for €56million and was recently auctioned at €13 or so million, one site went for €400 million and is now valued at €30 million or something like that) and did nothing for a rainy day with all the new money they had. They pretty much denied that a rainy day would ever come. And they were pretty ineffectual with dealing with anything that cropped up in the lead up to the burst of the bubble.

Is the Euro that beneficial? Maybe not, but the EU is for Ireland, and staying in the EU is worth it in the eyes of a lot of people. Ireland was (and in a lot ways still is) a bit of a backwater and it was EU membership that really bucked that trend. And I don't think anyone sees us getting out of this on our own either, so we're doing what we're told.

We do make our best art in times like these, so there is that…

Ireland's in a weird place right now, the economy grew last quarter ahead of expectations but so did unemployment. What'll happen next, who knows?

+discuss+discuss

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mk · 4791 days ago · link ·

We do make our best art in times like these, so there is that…

:) I saw Martin McDonagh's play The Cripple of Inishmaan not too long ago here in Ann Arbor, (near Detroit, Michigan), and it was fantastic. A week ago I saw Beckett's Watt and Endgame at the same theater, back to back. Watt was pretty good, but I couldn't take Endgame.

Being from Detroit, I can empathize with the feeling that a bit of hard times makes for great art. The city is pretty awful to live in, but it's very creative.

Ireland's in a weird place right now, the economy grew last quarter ahead of expectations but so did unemployment. What'll happen next, who knows?

That seems to be a theme. The US economy seems like some guy that just stood up after getting hit in the head. It looks like he might be ok, then he wobbles, then he steadies himself, then he wobbles again...