talk on conference website
Taxation, the most "boring" #34c3 talk, but hey it's the economy stupid, and you pay for it! We will a provide a quick overview of the international taxation system. Explaining what a Double Irish Sandwich is. Why international corporations like Google only pays 2.4% taxes. And how your favourite tech companies (Google, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, ... ) evaded billions in taxes. This tax-dodging costs the European Union more than $50 billion. Annually. We bring this numbers into perspective. And why you pay more.
And how you should discuss that topic, since it defines how our society will be.
You might heard about #LuxLeaks, #PanamaPapers, or other frivilous tax activites. This talk gives a overview about one the most urgend policy issues legal tax holes for big corporation, how big their score is, in relation to your own tax rate (across Europe) and why it should concern you. Duh you pay for it. And why you should get active. We will present the launch of a European-wide anti-tax evasion campaign beginning of May 2017.
Ireland's decision to phase out the Double Irish tax loophole doesn't mean the country is giving up on tax competition, or that U.S. multinationals will now bring more of their foreign earnings home. The reason affected tech companies are so calm about it is that they know Ireland will do whatever it takes to keep them. And it's not just Ireland ...
"Revelations of the extent of tax avoidance by multinationals based on exploitation of the armβs length system prompted a rear-guard action by the OECD described as the base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) programme but the programme deliberately avoids any principled re-examination of norms underlying the international tax regime or any consideration of a shift from residence to source-based taxation."
And the icing on the cake: We will present you the Stachanow of Capitalism: The only employee (on a mere 44.000 Euro annual salary) of ExxonMobil Spain: 9.9 billion Euro in net profits in 2 years.