[pjc50]

They benefit from having the market; the entire set of infrastructure and society that makes it possible to make money there. Google has no divine right to sell into that market without taxes or tariffs any more than European companies have to sell into the US.

But there's a very particularly European problem here, that of cross-state revenue recognition. A gross receipts tax or similar is one solution, which is also present in four US states: https://taxfoundation.org/state-corporate-income-tax-rates-a...

[microcolonel]

The government is not the market, the people are the market. If the government is in the business of selling the public to multinational corporations, something is truly wrong.

[pjc50]

L'etat, c'est nous.

(Yes, that's a joke in French, but I'm not really about to type a treatise on popular sovereignty in the Spanish constitution for two reasons. Firstly I'm on a phone, and secondly I know nothing about it)

I do wish one day we could have a discussion that didn't have to argue the existence of gonvernment and taxation from first principles, but today is not that day.

[microcolonel]

Néanmoins, nous ne sommes pas l'état.

A tax on Spanish and French revenues is a tax on Spanish and French consumption, which is already charged. If it is advertising revenue, then the tax will be charged on the advertised products and services and likely also on the charges to the advertisers.

L'état, c'est certains d'entre nous!

> I do wish one day we could have a discussion that didn't have to argue the existence of gonvernment and taxation from first principles, but today is not that day.

I'm not arguing for or against taxation as a whole in any sense, with or without first principles. I'm arguing that this particular instantiation does not fit the justifications for the existing tax regime, and serves no purpose but to increase the price of services to the people in these countries (and in order to fund something which has not even been defined).

This taxation, not part of law in any of these countries, is effectively a transaction tax. If the goal is to discourage transactions, then well, go ahead and levy it. Pat yourself on the back knowing that your citizens are doing less business and more of their money is going to the state for whatever purpose the state sees fit.

[kig]

The money that goes to the state in taxes is spent by the state on services provided by the citizens of the state. The alternative is the money going to a tax haven bank account of a multinational. Pat yourself on the back knowing that your citizens are doing less business and more of their money is going to the multinational for whatever purpose the multinational sees fit.

[0x4a42]

Oui !

[0x4a42]

Getting downvoted because I agree with Lénine. :-/

This is too unfair. [0]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmzOCtsZTW4 [0]