Amazon and Starbucks pay less tax than sausage stall, says Austria

Hi, I am Austrian and I read the original interview in an austrian newspaper. It was very unspectacular and I am quite amused that it got international attention.<p>Our prime minister is wrong or at least slightly populist here. Yeah, Facebook&#x2F;Google are not paying advertising duty. But no one does, at least in the internet. You only have to pay this duty if you advertise in TV, Radio, newspaper, etc. but it does NOT apply for the internet! See for yourself on the homepage of the austrian finance ministry (unfortunately in german): <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bmf.gv.at&#x2F;steuern&#x2F;a-z&#x2F;Werbeabgabe.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bmf.gv.at&#x2F;steuern&#x2F;a-z&#x2F;Werbeabgabe.html</a>. The law is from 2000, so probably before advertising in the internet became big.<p>Even if they change this law to include the internet, the Austrian companies that want to advertise would have to pay this tax (5% btw) since Google&#x2F;Facebook do not have any offices in Austria (see chapter &quot;Abgabenschuldner&quot; in the link above). Google&#x2F;Facebook don&#x27;t even need to care about this law! (apart from that extending the law could make advertising in the internet more unattractive).<p>Why should they even pay corporate taxes in Austria? As already said they don&#x27;t have any offices here.

Part of this makes an intuitive sense, a sausage stall has one <i>trivially</i> accessible &quot;throat to choke&quot;, whereas Austria&#x27;s access to e.g. Jeff Bezos is much more difficult.<p>Starbucks, though, I&#x27;m assuming they&#x27;ve got retail shops in Austria? That just means they can afford better tax lawyers.

Amazon and Starbucks spend a lot of money to hire highly competent tax attorneys and other staff to minimize their payment of taxes. Instead of complaining, countries need to pay more money to hire even brighter people to write better tax laws. Citizens of these countries need to elect officials who will do the hiring and not have obstructive laws that prohibits the payment of the large salaries and fees necessary to hire these competent people.

Tax heavens like law breakers may have critical roles in a stable system allowing it to adapt. But one can not let them run the show as a whole.<p>International trade is not a new problem. Car manufacturing has been internationally for a while. Rules for transfer pricing have been established. The challenge is with this construct of intellectual property where arbitrary valuations disconnected from any underlying real trade are easier to get away with.<p>It used to matter less. It matters more now and tax innovations are getting more scrutinized.

Why do we even tax corporations instead of just the income that its owners receive from the corporation?

The smaller you are as a business, the closer you are to being an individual and less of a business. Of course, as an individual, basically any money you earn is taxed. You don&#x27;t get to not pay tax on the $1,500&#x2F;mo rent for your apartment where as as a business, you can deduct your offic rent.

Does amazon even have a presence in austria? I thought it is handled from other countries.

Something about this story seems off to me.<p>&gt;Mr Kern, who heads Austria&#x27;s Social Democrats and the country&#x27;s coalition government, also said Facebook and Google had sales of more than 100m euros each in Austria.<p>I&#x27;m not an expert on Austria but this suggests to me that this person can propose and possibly pass laws in Austria. He is not just an activist who only has the power to give interviews to BBC. If he thinks that Amazon and Starbucks are not paying enough tax to Austria, why doesn&#x27;t he change Austrian law to charge them more tax? Don&#x27;t give me some bullshit about how corporate lawyers will find loopholes - you run the government! Do your job! Change the law! Or at least make a show of trying.

You need to ask EU president Junkers about that, though he has the corrupt politician&#x27;s memory lapse in the face of evidence.<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.telegraph.co.uk&#x2F;news&#x2F;worldnews&#x2F;europe&#x2F;eu&#x2F;11902939&#x2F;EUs-Juncker-releases-secret-Luxleaks-tax-advice.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.telegraph.co.uk&#x2F;news&#x2F;worldnews&#x2F;europe&#x2F;eu&#x2F;11902939...</a>