Thread

1. djoldman · 1790864377 · focus · HN ↗

   It often strikes me as quite the biased and one-sided take when a tax-paying entity is called out by the press for tax avoidance (NOT tax evasion, which is illegal). (yes TFA implies that Meta is breaking the law, I'm not talking about situations where entities break the law).

   Previously we've seen "The Secret IRS Files" from Propublica as well as other coverage of tax avoidance that never resulted in tax evasion charges. Coverage wide enough that it's arguably safe to assume that no laws were broken because there was quite the demand for an enforcement response.

   The funny thing is that a more accurate title for these pieces would be, "Federal Government Allows [tax-paying entity] a Massive Tax Break." And then the piece would be all about how the senate, congress, and president either explicitly wanted there to be this extreme tax loophole or was incompetent and allowed something they didn't mean to allow.

   Folks are continually getting upset and riled up about players in the economic system instead of who and what makes the rules.

   An analogous example: everyone got cranky about Martin Shkreli, mostly because he raised prices on Deraprim, although also because many would label him a brash jerk. But he went to jail for finance stuff, not raising prices. Why? Because raising prices in the way he did wasn't something the feds thought was illegal or wasn't something they thought he could be convicted of.

   Folks get mad at Musk, Zuckerberg, etc... if they're doing something illegal, ok yea that makes sense. If folks are mad about actions that are legal, it makes zero sense to be mad at the actor. Be mad at the people/entities who created the legal loopholes and laws.

   1. datsci_est_2015 · 1790866246 · focus · HN ↗

      Important context to add is that those who benefit from such tax breaks turn around and fund with their disproportionate, ill-gotten gains the very candidates who you say we should really be upset with. They also fund the media companies, both social and traditional, that are the propaganda for the status quo. They don't benefit from these laws that create loopholes in a vacuum - they're the very reason the laws continue to have loopholes in the first place!

      As they say, "No war except class war", I think we are perfectly justified in being upset with the names in the headlines.

      1. TeMPOraL · 1790873597 · focus · HN ↗

         Oh yes, and also the data centers! Evil!

         Seriously though, while I agree it's all ultimately class war, I'd pay attention to the fact that everyone's just getting enraged because some news source says you should, and we all know that news publishing is an absolute paragon of truth and accuracy.

         The actual truth here is probably just: working as intended, for perfectly good, mundane reasons, and you would even think it's wise if you read about it in an econ book, but because it says "${AI company}" and "data centers" and is a news headline, everyone is suddenly full of rage.

         1. datsci_est_2015 · 1791036923 · focus · HN ↗

            If you think my grievances begin and end at “data centers” and “AI” you are sorely mistaken.

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