Digital Corporations: Pay Us What You Owe Us

Written By: - Date published: 7:17 am, February 19th, 2019 - 75 comments
Categories: facebook, internet, Media, tax, tech industry, twitter - Tags:

In a welcome development, the Prime Minister has signaled that they will seek to tax digital companies from overseas. The commentary from the Monday post-Cabinet press conference from the Prime Minister is worth listening to in this NZHerald piece.

Minister of Revenue Stuart Nash indicates there is between $30-$80 million of extra tax potentially coming in to the government coffers as a result of this tax, giving the government a massive opportunity to make even larger anti-poverty tax shifts in the package of commentary that it will release in three days’ time from the Tax Working Group.   

Apple, Google, Starbucks, and companies like them all claim to be socially responsible, but the first element of social responsibility should be paying your fair share of tax. As Zuckerberg demonstrated when he deigned to visit the United States committee last, year, and simply refused all other country’s investigation, he does not give a damn about democratic participation or accountability in any form.

Globalization has enabled multinationals to encourage a race to the bottom, threatening the revenues that governments need to function properly.

Globalization has enabled large multinationals, like Apple, Google, Uber and Baidu, to avoid paying tax. Just today, Viagogo yesterday successfully resisted legal action by the Commerce Commission because the Judge viewed that Viagogo was based in Switzerland so the New Zealand court simply did not  have jurisdiction over them. To be successful the Commerce Commission should have served Viagogo in Switzerland. Slippery is the word.

If everyone avoided and evaded taxes like these companies, society could not function, much less make the public investments that led to the Internet, on which Apple and Google depend.   

For years, multinational corporations have encouraged a race to the bottom, telling each country that it must lower its taxes below that of its competitors. U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cut culminated that race. A year later, we can see the results: the sugar high it brought to the U.S. economy is quickly fading, leaving behind a mountain of debt (which increased by more than $1 trillion dollars last year).

The digital economy has in some ways been great, but not for government business. The tax package this Thursday is a signal that it is time to take back some of the balance in favour of the great majority of New Zealanders.

Spurred on by the threat that the digital economy will deprive governments of the revenues to fund public functions (as well as distorting the economy away from traditional ways of selling), the international community is at long last recognizing that something is wrong. But the flaws in the current framework of multinational taxation – based on so-called transfer pricing – have long been known.

Transfer pricing relies on the well-accepted principle that taxes should reflect where an economic activity occurs. But how is that determined? In a globalized economy, products move repeatedly across borders, typically in an unfinished state: a shirt without buttons, a car without a transmission, a wafer without a chip. The transfer price system assumes that we can establish arms-length values for each stage of production, and thereby assess the value added within a country.

But we can’t.   

The growing role of intellectual property and intangibles makes matters even worse, because ownership claims can easily be moved around the world. That’s why the United States long ago abandoned using the transfer price system within the U.S., in favor of a formula that attributes companies’ total profits to each state in proportion to the share of sales, employment, and capital there. We need to move toward such a system at the global level.

How that is actually done, however, makes a great deal of difference. If the formula is based largely on final sales, which occur disproportionately in developed countries, developing countries will be deprived of needed revenues, which will be increasingly missed as fiscal constraints diminish aid flows. Final sales may be appropriate for taxation of digital transactions, but not for manufacturing or other sectors, where it is vital to include employment as well.

Since its inception, the OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project has made an important contribution to rethinking the taxation of multinationals by advancing understanding of some of the fundamental issues. For example, if there is true value in multinationals, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

Standard tax principles of simplicity, efficiency, and equity should guide our thinking in allocating the “residual value,” as the Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation (of which I am a member) advocates. But these principles are inconsistent either with retaining the transfer price system or with basing taxes primarily on sales.

Politics matters in blunting this race to the bottom. In its spatial form you saw this recently in the game Amazon played with different U.S. states to attract its headquarters. New York, after striking a bargain with Amazon, recently developed a rejuvenated spine from the stronger core of the left of the Democratic Party.

Deal is now off.

That is a great signal to companies that democratic civil society has a real cost and it’s time that the digital multinationals paid their fair share to sustain it. There is plenty of rising agreement that, in the absence of global regulation of the internet, it’s time to control them by other means such as tax.

There is as Minister Nash indicates a lot of work being done in the OECD to standardize how such companies can have a common tax net around them, so that tax revenues are more predictable, their costs easier to predict, and governments can still determine the size of the mesh of the net while having common mechanisms. Nowhere to globally hide, in short.

Governments in some advanced countries where these companies have significant political influence will demur from these efforts – even if doing so disadvantages the rest of the country. The long-run example of Ireland is the classic case. Other advanced countries, focusing on their own budgets, will simply see this as another opportunity to benefit at the expense of developing countries.

It’s a really helpful signal too for Thursday’s announcement that the government is working on useful ways to give itself for a Great Tradeoff: soak the rich of New Zealand with Capital Income Tax, but potentially proffer much larger tax decreases to the poorer of New Zealand. For example: take tax off benefits, or off NZSuper, or off the first $20,000 of income. They have stated that that the package will be fiscally neutral, so this extra income gives them headroom to achieve a deeper balancing.

That helps blunt the primary wedge that National has to win the next election from Labour on the issue of tax.

So not only is Prime Minister Ardern’s digital corporate tax fiscally smart, it’s also smart politics.

75 comments on “Digital Corporations: Pay Us What You Owe Us ”

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  1. Chris T 1
    19 February 2019 at 8:41 am

    “So not only is Prime Minister Ardern’s digital corporate tax fiscally smart, it’s also smart politics.”

    Personally disagree

    It would be better to go in with the other OECD countries, as a massive group, as we are piddly, rather than jump the gun. They are only going to get about 30 million from it with Ardern’s plan and who knows how much that will actually cost.

    • AB 1.1
      19 February 2019 at 8:52 am

      The amount of revenue doesn’t matter at this point. It is about establishing an ideological bridgehead. Expansion comes later. Good to do it now while the public mood is in favour.

      • Chris T 1.1.1
        19 February 2019 at 9:09 am

        Public mood will always be in favour of big corporates paying more tax

        • patricia bremner 1.1.1.1
          19 February 2019 at 10:09 am

          So Chris, do we read from your comments you want to be a “slow follower”, like John Key, rather than a “Mover and shaper” like Jacinda Ardern? You want us to follow other countries slowly?

          Why is taxing the first dollar earned by a poor NZer pushed ahead of Multi-National Companies paying something on their earnings? 1 to 3% only!!

          Poor Nzers will still pay at least 6 times as much on each dollar earned, and they will never have the power to influence Governments the way Multi-Nationals do.

          So save your cheerleading for more deserving cases Chris.

          • Gosman 1.1.1.1.1
            19 February 2019 at 10:45 am

            How is this any different to say China demanding Fonterra pays taxes on the earnings it makes from selling milk products in China to a Chinese importer.

            • left_forward 1.1.1.1.1.1
              19 February 2019 at 2:41 pm

              Wow Gossy, still your usual passive aggressive question /statement style – so assuming your question is a statement – you make an excellent point – there is no difference.

              • alwyn …
                19 February 2019 at 4:37 pm

                Are you seriously suggesting that you wouldn’t worry if China, say, was to apply the same technique to Fonterra?
                Fonterra has a net income which is under 4% (in a good year), of its total sales. Thus if China started taxing the at 3% they would take almost the total net income of all its sales in China. All the profit gone. I’m not to sure that the New Zealand farmers, or the New Zealand Government would be very happy.

                • left_forward …
                  19 February 2019 at 4:43 pm

                  I’m going along with Gossy’s logic – if we tax google and facebook for income earned in NZ, then of course we need to accept that NZ business overseas would also be subject to income tax for sales in China.
                  Do you have a rationale for treating these situations differently, other than xenophobia?

  2. Gosman 2
    19 February 2019 at 9:59 am

    I’m trying to understand the concept behind this.

    Are people annoyed that a company based in another country offers a service to NZers who pay them a fee and then any profits made as a result are not taxed in NZ but overseas?

    • Stuart Munro 2.1
      19 February 2019 at 10:17 am

      No, people are annoyed that more often than not large corporations evade tax altogether, and that this avoidance gives them a competitive advantage over local providers who do pay. It also frequently allows them to avoid other laws or responsibilities, such as the employer responsibilities that Uber routinely avoids.

      One obvious solution is to cap the percentage of sales that can be laid off against offshore costs. Companies like Apple, with substantial sales in NZ, need not enjoy unlimited privilege to invent costs so as to avoid providing some local return on their activity here.

      • Gosman 2.1.1
        19 February 2019 at 10:38 am

        They can’t evade tax altogether. Any revenue not taxed in New Zealand will get taxed in the country that it ends up. It is up to that country to decide what that rate is. Also any profit’s that are distributed to shareholders in the forms of dividends are also taxed.

        • Stuart Munro 2.1.1.1
          19 February 2019 at 10:47 am

          They often do evade tax altogether.

          This idea that only their country of technical residence has any right to be involved in their activities is a fallacy – without our market Apple’s third world manufacturing base cannot profit here.

          Your presumption of a right to choose location for tax residency precipitates a race to the bottom that improperly favours corporations over citizens. Being a physical entity my choice of tax location is real.

          • Gosman 2.1.1.1.1
            19 February 2019 at 10:51 am

            If they evade tax then they are breaking laws and can be prosecuted by the various tax authorities in the nations they have broken the tax laws in. I suspect you are meaning tax avoidance which is a completely different matter. This is all about minimising the overall tax burden from the company (but not necessarily from the entire operation).

            • Stuart Munro 2.1.1.1.1.1
              19 February 2019 at 11:09 am

              Your distinction between avoidance and evasion is artificial, and it has reached the point where such license is necessarily going to be wound back.

              But you are evading the point too – that corporates require market access to obtain the profits they hide through these complex and duplicitous minimization structures. As disruption increasingly features as a corporate strategy, the cost of allowing such access becomes increasingly apparent to the states that permit that access. They are going to begin to regulate it.

              • Gosman …
                19 February 2019 at 11:50 am

                What cost? How is Facebook operating in NZ costing NZ in any significant manner?

                • riffer …
                  19 February 2019 at 12:22 pm

                  In terms you could understand, I imagine Facebook is responsible for a fair bit of lost production due to employee timewasting. That’s one example.

                  • riffer …
                    19 February 2019 at 12:23 pm

                    But a better way would be to couch it in terms of revenue extracted from the populace compared to social investment. Possibly a concept some might struggle with seeing the value in.

                    • Gosman …
                      19 February 2019 at 12:47 pm

                      Revenue extracted from who?

                    • riffer …
                      19 February 2019 at 12:51 pm

                      The point people are trying to make, which appears lost on you, is that in operating within a country (of providing a service to members of a country) you are taking advantage of an infrastructure built up over many years through tax and hard work. Failing to pay tax inside that country is effectively taking without giving back.

                    • Gosman …
                      19 February 2019 at 1:28 pm

                      If I sell a product to an Australian I will take advantage of the infrastructure of Australia to get it to this person. Should I pay tax on the profit I made from such a sale?

                • Stuart Munro …
                  19 February 2019 at 1:31 pm

                  I imagine our local media companies, facing declining advertising revenues, would be happy to attribute their loss of profitability to the likes of google and facebook, not entirely without justification. Both sell advertising within NZ to create profit, and cultivate an online community here, which they exploit for profit. The profit from those activities should be taxed, as should any other corporate enterprise.

        • halfcrown 2.1.1.2
          19 February 2019 at 1:13 pm

          ” Any revenue not taxed in New Zealand will get taxed in the country that it ends up.”

          You mean like Amazon. Last year paid the massive amount of zero. Like zero irrespective which country they are in

          I find it ironic One of the large electrical outlets in this country is selling some Amazon crap which no doubt the buyer will pay GST on, bought with residue funds after he has paid his income tax. Also the large electrical outlet will pay tax on any profit made, whereas Amazon does not pay a cent AND receive another subsidy from the American taxpayers as their workers have to be assisted with food stamps, owing to the low wages they pay their employee’s.

          https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/02/15/amazon_no_tax/

          • alwyn 2.1.1.2.1
            19 February 2019 at 4:47 pm

            “owing to the low wages they pay their employee’s.”.
            Really? What do you consider a low wage? Since November 1 last year the minimum wage Amazon pays any of its workers is $US15.00/hour.
            That is about $22 NZ/hour.
            Is that really a “low wage”?

            • halfcrown 2.1.1.2.1.1
              19 February 2019 at 5:07 pm

              Any wage paid where an employee has to resort to food stamps tells me they are being paid a low wage. As for the $15.00 hour sounds good but we don’t know the living costs in America do we, so can’t compare with $22.00 hour NZ
              But you are fully aware of all that aren’t you.

              • alwyn …
                19 February 2019 at 5:56 pm

                Well, according to the City Mission in Auckland ever more people in New Zealand are having to rely on food parcels. There were a lot more at the end of 2018 than there were in 2017.
                However people I know who have lived in the US recently tell me that the cost of living is a little less than in New Zealand. It obviously, particularly for housing, depends upon where you choose to live but they said that only the SF area was significantly dearer than Auckland.
                But you were fully aware of all this aren’t you?

                • halfcrown …
                  19 February 2019 at 7:31 pm

                  I am fully aware of the food parcel handouts by the City Mission in Auckland and the fact that some are going to people who are already employed. What a sick state this once proud country has descended into

                  ” However people I know who have lived in the US recently tell me that the cost of living is a little less than in New Zealand. It obviously, particularly for housing, depends upon where you choose to live but they said that only the SF area was significantly dearer than Auckland.
                  But you were fully aware of all this aren’t you?”

                  No, I am not fully aware of that, as that is a completely different tale I am hearing from the family living in PA. One of their most crippling costs is the medical insurance rort. I am also aware housing is cheaper but you don’t buy houses every week to eat, and I like to see how many houses you can buy with food stamps.
                  As I originally stated Amazon does not pay any tax and is subsidised by the taxpayer as their employees have to have government food stamps to make up the difference. Now I could not give a shit if they had one dollar, ten dollars or one hundred fucking dollars, if they cannot survive without food stamps they are underpaid.

                  https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2018/08/24/thousands-amazon-workers-receive-food-stamps-now-bernie-sanders-wants-amazon-pay-up/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.2318b35d9563

                  • alwyn …
                    19 February 2019 at 9:02 pm

                    Sanders is an idiot. However he has found an argument that appeals to people who are even sillier than he is.
                    There is nothing at all wrong with the state providing people who can not live on the amount they earn with benefits. That is what the state is there for.
                    I shall give you a hypothetical situation.
                    Suppose I was a poorly educated person with a wife and family of 10 kids. My wife cannot, for medical reasons, work. My work is only worth $1500/week to my employer and that is what they pay me.

                    Now. You would not provide subsidised social housing. After all, to you that is a subsidy to my employer and that is bad.
                    You wouldn’t provide working for families. After all, you think that is a subsidy to my employer and that is bad.
                    You wouldn’t reduce the tax I pay. After all, to you that is a subsidy to my employer and that is bad.
                    You wouldn’t provide state paid education for my children. After all, you think that is a subsidy to my employer and that is bad.
                    You wouldn’t provide state paid medical care. After all, you think that is a subsidy to my employer and that is bad.

                    I suppose that you would insist that my employer should pay me $4,000/week so I could pay for all these things myself?
                    So he will lay me off but that won’t worry you.

                    Are you really so dumb that you can’t see that an employer should pay people what their work is worth and that the state is there to make up that income to the amount they need to live decently?

                    And do you really not think that Amazon, if the US was silly enough to adopt Sanders’ ideas, would only hire single people who wouldn’t need food stamps or any of the other things that are provided by the taxpayer?
                    Are you really as stupid as you make out?

                    • halfcrown …
                      20 February 2019 at 10:48 am

                      I always thought you were a rightwing insulting peabrained idiot, you have now removed all doubt. Your reply was a heap of insulting crap which is not worthy of any further comment.

                    • alwyn …
                      20 February 2019 at 11:03 am

                      In other words what I said is 100% accurate and you can’t see any way to dispute what I am saying.
                      Hence, rather than admit that what I am saying is accurate and thinking about why your views are wrong you are going into a sulk.

                      Just take one item and reply honestly.
                      Is Working for Families not simply a more general New Zealand equivalent of Food Stamps?
                      Should we be demanding a higher wage for anyone currently receiving it so that no one needs to get it?
                      Would this encourage firms to employ people who are single, or at least without dependents rather than those people with families.
                      Do you not see any problems with that?

                      Wouldn’t it be better, as I suggest, to pay people what their work is worth and make up their income to a decent standard by transfer payments from the state?

                      Now just try thinking for a change. Ignoring the truth is not really an option you know.

    • AB 2.2
      19 February 2019 at 10:38 am

      No – people are annoyed by companies that operate in New Zealand but do not contribute to the public and human infrastructure that makes ‘New Zealand’ possible and without which there would be no ‘New Zealand’.
      Minor things such as a public education system that produces an employable workforce, a system of laws, courts and police that allows them to operate here with some sense of security. Roads, sewage treatment, power supply that mostly works. A redistributive social welfare system that maintains sufficient aggregate demand in the economy across all social classes that lots of people can actually afford their products.
      Et effing etcera.
      It’s called freeloading – something that drives the right into apoplectic rage when done on a trivial scale by poor people but is somehow excusable in companies making billions of dollars

      • Gosman 2.2.1
        19 February 2019 at 10:39 am

        They are contributing to it because NZers have voluntarily decided to use their services because they feel it obviously gives them a benefit that a NZ based company cannot provide.

        • Psycho Milt 2.2.1.1
          19 February 2019 at 10:46 am

          Sure. But while they’re at it they can also contribute by paying taxes like everybody else does.

          • Gosman 2.2.1.1.1
            19 February 2019 at 10:52 am

            They do pay tax. They just might not necessarily pay much tax in NZ.

              • Gosman …
                19 February 2019 at 11:47 am

                Yes that is correct. They are using legal tax loop holes to minimise the amount of corporate taxes they pay. Why wouldn’t they do that? Your problem is really with the system that allows such tax loop holes not in the companies legally using such loop holes.

                There is still lot’s of tax paid on the profits they made.

                • bwaghorn …
                  19 February 2019 at 12:14 pm

                  The problem with your legal loopholes is that they are created by the mates of the very people/corporates that are dodging the tax . Legal maybe wrong definatly

                  • Gosman …
                    19 February 2019 at 1:07 pm

                    Wrong maybe. That is a matter of opinion.

                    • Stuart Munro …
                      19 February 2019 at 1:38 pm

                      No – avoiding taxes completely is a crime. Opinion is neither here nor there.

                    • Gosman …
                      19 February 2019 at 1:53 pm

                      No, avoiding taxes completely would be impossible. Not taking advantage of tax loop holes to avoid them temporarily would be incredibly foolish.

                    • Stuart Munro …
                      19 February 2019 at 2:04 pm

                      “avoiding taxes completely would be impossible”

                      What fatuous nonsense you talk. It’s remarkably common. Oligarchs in Russia and China for example, almost invariably find their way around the tax laws, and large US corporations like Enron or Amazon are largely no different. Your crush Key did his best to enable hot and cold running tax avoidance by creating trust laws so lax that NZ became a destination of choice for foreign criminal funds detailed in the Panama Papers.

                      Not taking advantage of loopholes would be the basic good character requirement to do business in any civilized country. And a responsible government needs to consider the tax compliance status of these enterprises when they come trying to lobby for consideration in other spheres.

                      A rogue corporation like Amazon or Apple or Enron should receive short shrift from legislators, a law abiding one retains some right to be heard.

                    • Gosman …
                      19 February 2019 at 2:07 pm

                      I have expressed no great admiration for Key beyond his amazing ability to annoy lefties like you.

                      There are no Tax loopholes that I am aware of that ends up allowing no tax to be paid forever. They are generally temporary tax relief. That seems to be how Amazon has avoided paying some tax in New York.

                    • Stuart Munro …
                      19 February 2019 at 2:14 pm

                      Good lord Gosman, we’re not about to reduce the universe of possibility to the tiny sphere that you are aware of!

                      The fact is that you endorse the criminal activities of tax evaders like Key. Your catch cry “good luck enforcing that” is the criminals’ “you’ll never catch me alive, copper”. We can, we should, and we shall.

                • Psycho Milt …
                  19 February 2019 at 12:57 pm

                  How do you think the loopholes get there so companies can use them? Hint: legislators need donations if they want to remain legislators.

                  • Poission …
                    19 February 2019 at 1:16 pm

                    and there are knots that can close said loopholes such as making the expenditure say on facebook advertising non tax deductible.

                    • Gosman …
                      19 February 2019 at 1:55 pm

                      Good luck with enforcing that tax change.

                    • Poission …
                      19 February 2019 at 2:06 pm

                      can be made by regulation ie an order in council easy peasy.

                    • Poission …
                      19 February 2019 at 2:08 pm

                      The uk data revenue tax (2% of turnover) commences 1 april 2020 BTW

                    • Gosman …
                      19 February 2019 at 2:14 pm

                      LOL! I love how you think making a new regulation is the hardest part about enforcement. Tell me how will the IRD know whether a company has spent money with Facebook or with another online provider of advertisements?

                  • alwyn …
                    19 February 2019 at 4:52 pm

                    Is that what Jamie Lee Ross’s question today in Parliament was about?
                    Mind you, if he plans to continue on the subject we are going to be waiting for a very long time to see any outcome.
                    By my reckoning he will get about 1 question per month.

            • halfcrown 2.2.1.1.1.2
              19 February 2019 at 1:14 pm

              “They do pay tax. They just might not necessarily pay much tax in NZ.”

              No they don’t see 2.1.1.2

  3. patricia bremner 3
    19 February 2019 at 10:20 am

    If your company comes to our country with services for the public, uses our infrastructure and engages people in commercial interactions, the public purse should be paid a fee to cover costs and loss of Government revenue through unpaid taxes.

    The public elected their Government to look after the public good. When entities find ways not to be part of society, the Government has to correct that as part of the public good. These entities do not contribute without prodding. So now there is a growing prod from countries affected, especially when no tax at all is paid by these entities using every loophole.

    • Gosman 3.1
      19 February 2019 at 10:42 am

      You want these companies to pay for the use of the telecommunications and power infrastructure in NZ do you?

      That would likely be a fraction of a cent for each transaction. By all means try and construct a system that manages the cost recovery for this that doesn’t cost more to administer than it generates in revenue.

  4. Muttonbird 4
    19 February 2019 at 10:51 am

    The introduction of the digital economy has thrown up this anomaly.

    I think it’s important that a digital service is viewed as existing in the country it is used rather than the country it is administered.

    I also think the local workforce carrying out the service should be protected under the same employment laws as everyone else.

    • Gosman 4.1
      19 February 2019 at 10:54 am

      Why? The service itself was created by a company that is based outside NZ. It would be like someone in NZ buying a computer made in say China and then expecting that company to pay tax on the profit it made from that sale.

  5. Muttonbird 5
    19 February 2019 at 11:12 am

    But the service is performed, in the case of uber and airbnb, by local people in this country.

    In the making of a computer in China, local people there perform the action of manufacture.

    • Gosman 5.1
      19 February 2019 at 11:49 am

      The people carrying out the service pay tax.

      • Muttonbird 5.1.1
        19 February 2019 at 12:06 pm

        Yes, personal income tax like everyone else. The business activity is in New Zealand though, yet the profit from that business activity is not currently able to be taxed in New Zealand.

  6. Muttonbird 6
    19 February 2019 at 12:40 pm

    And Facebook’s revenue is from advertising so again the business activity is in NZ and therefore should attract business tax as does every other business activity in New Zealand.

    • indiana 6.1
      19 February 2019 at 12:48 pm

      I’m sure the IRD will have no problem collecting this tax. They simply need to pay a visit to the NZ based Facebook office and speak to their financial controller. This financial controller will be able to show the IRD the operating costs of the Facebook NZ office and determine the PROFIT made in NZ by the NZ Facebook off from the NZer’s who did not pay an overseas Facebook account to have their adverts displayed in NZ. After all the REVENUE collected was by a NZ Facebook office right?

  7. james 7
    19 February 2019 at 12:56 pm

    I think it would be a laugh (will never happen tho’) where Google, or Facebook just go “aww fuck it” – “OK NZ – we wont offer our product in your country any more”.

    That would change any government that allowed that to happen.

    • Psycho Milt 7.1
      19 February 2019 at 1:04 pm

      …(will never happen tho’)…

      Well, yes, exactly. I never get this right-wing wank fantasy in which Galtian supermen decide that if the mundane people expect them to pay tax on their business income, their business will just forego that income. It would be “funny” in the same sense that someone cutting off their nose to spite their face would be funny, ie would take an odd sense of humour.

      • Stuart Munro 7.1.1
        19 February 2019 at 1:36 pm

        It’s the default argument of corrupt rightwingers. Dickens cited it in Hard Times – manufacturers who threatened to throw their enterprises into the North Sea were they taxed slightly more. Experienced legislators ignore such histrionics.

    • Muttonbird 7.2
      19 February 2019 at 3:38 pm

      Don’t worry. You might still be able to Facebook your family back home with a VPN.

    • Pat 7.3
      19 February 2019 at 7:26 pm

      lol….they are welcome to do us that favour….of course the more they do it the less their income

  8. Poission 8
    19 February 2019 at 2:04 pm

    As Zuckerberg demonstrated when he deigned to visit the United States committee last, year, and simply refused all other country’s investigation,

    Did you mean the UK?

    Our ‘International Grand Committee’ meeting, held in November 2018, was the culmination of this collaborative work. The Committee was composed of 24 democratically-elected representatives from nine countries, including the 11 members of the DCMS Committee, who together represent a total of 447 million people. The representatives signed a set of International Principles at that meeting. We exchanged ideas and solutions both in private and public, and held a seven-hour oral evidence
    session. We invited Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook—the social media company that has over 2.25 billion users and made $40 billion in revenue in 2017—to give evidence to us and to this Committee; he chose to refuse, three times. Yet, within four hours of the subsequent publication of the documents we obtained from Six4Three—about Facebook’s knowledge of and participation in data sharing—Mr Zuckerberg responded with a post on his Facebook page.14
    We thank our ‘International Grand Committee’ colleagues for
    attending the important session, and we look forward to continuing our collaboration

    UK report into fake news etc (just released)

    https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmcumeds/1791/1791.pdf

    .

  9. Cinny 9
    19 February 2019 at 4:19 pm

    Jacinda always said it’s about fairness. She is walking the talk and I’m proud of her for doing so.

    If the nat’s have an issue with it, then that speaks volumes about their lust for greed and corporate loopholes that exploit our tax laws.

  10. Tuppence Shrewsbury 10
    19 February 2019 at 6:36 pm

    Hear hear!

    Tax is horrible necessity. One that must be paid by all wherever the economic activity takes place.

    Fair tax is a relative term and needs to be abandoned. Absolute tax as a result of economic activity needs to be analysed and paid on profit from corporations. As a discount should be applied to taxes resulting gains on capital, as opposed to profit on operating activity, a discount should be applied to profit on digital assets requiring r&d to stay productive. But the same tax as applied to capital gains should be applied to digital companies engaging in transfer pricing.

    The same principal applies. Capital is applied, the gains in its value need to be recognised beyond an r&d level and taxed. The balance accrues to a companies balance sheet.

    A level playing field. Not a pseudo monopoly that entrenches first mover status.

  11. One Two 11
    19 February 2019 at 6:47 pm

    Higher probability of the nations debt book being opened to public scrutiny

  12. mosa 12
    20 February 2019 at 1:09 pm

    All this tax not paid should be backdated !!!

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  • New catch limits for unique fishery areas
    Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
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    3 hours ago

  • Minister welcomes hydrogen milestone
    Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
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    19 hours ago

  • Urgent changes to system through first RMA Amendment Bill
    The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
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    1 day ago

  • Overseas decommissioning models considered
    Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
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    1 day ago

  • Release of North Island Severe Weather Event Inquiry
    Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
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    1 day ago

  • Justice Minister to attend Human Rights Council
    Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order.  “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
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    2 days ago

  • Patterson reopens world’s largest wool scouring facility
    Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
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    2 days ago

  • Speech to the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective Summit, 18 April 2024
    Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing  At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin    Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho    Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today.    I am delighted ...
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    2 days ago

  • Government to introduce revised Three Strikes law
    The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
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    2 days ago

  • New diplomatic appointments
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions.   “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says.    “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
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    2 days ago

  • Humanitarian support for Ethiopia and Somalia
    New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today.   “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
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    2 days ago

  • Arts Minister congratulates Mataaho Collective
    Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale.  “It is good ...
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    3 days ago

  • Supporting better financial outcomes for Kiwis
    The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
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    3 days ago

  • Trade relationship with China remains strong
    “China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says.   Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
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    3 days ago

  • PM’s South East Asia mission does the business
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
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    4 days ago

  • $41m to support clean energy in South East Asia
    New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
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    5 days ago

  • Minister releases Fast-track stakeholder list
    The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
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    5 days ago

  • Judicial appointments announced
    Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
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    5 days ago

  • Education Minister heads to major teaching summit in Singapore
    Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa.  The summit is co-hosted ...
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    5 days ago

  • Value of stopbank project proven during cyclone
    A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
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    5 days ago

  • Anzac commemorations, Türkiye relationship focus of visit
    Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul.    “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
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    5 days ago

  • Minister to Europe for OECD meeting, Anzac Day
    Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
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    5 days ago

  • Comprehensive Partnership the goal for NZ and the Philippines
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr.  The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
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    6 days ago

  • Government commits $20m to Westport flood protection
    The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
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    6 days ago

  • Taupō takes pole position
    The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
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    6 days ago

  • Cost of living support for low-income homeowners
    Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners.  “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
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    6 days ago

  • Government backing mussel spat project
    The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
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    6 days ago

  • Government focused on getting people into work
    Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
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    6 days ago

  • Clean energy key driver to reducing emissions
    The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
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    6 days ago

  • Earthquake-prone buildings review brought forward
    The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
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    6 days ago

  • Thailand and NZ to agree to Strategic Partnership
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
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    7 days ago

  • Government consults on extending coastal permits for ports
    RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
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    7 days ago

  • Inflation coming down, but more work to do
    Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
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    7 days ago

  • School attendance restored as a priority in health advice
    Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
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    1 week ago

  • Unnecessary bureaucracy cut in oceans sector
    Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
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    1 week ago

  • Patterson promoting NZ’s wool sector at International Congress
    Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector.    "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
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    1 week ago

  • Removing red tape to help early learners thrive
    The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
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    1 week ago

  • RMA changes to cut coal mining consent red tape
    Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
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    1 week ago

  • McClay reaffirms strong NZ-China trade relationship
    Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
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    1 week ago

  • Prime Minister Luxon acknowledges legacy of Singapore Prime Minister Lee
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.   Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
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    1 week ago

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