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by arctux 2683 days ago
No. Fines exist to dissuade illegal behavior. The loopholes that Google (and Apple, and many other multinationals) should be abolished, and any tax evasion should be prosecuted. Antitrust fines do not exist to punish tax avoidance. They exist to penalize companies who use their size to prevent competition and distort markets.

I have many issues with Google's business practices, but punishing them is not worth throwing out the rule of law.
1 comments
jplayer01 2683 days ago
> Fines exist to dissuade illegal behavior

This is just your preferred interpretation. Fines also exist to reduce or disincentivize unwanted behavior.

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YayamiOmate 2682 days ago
How is that different? The behaviour is made illegal, precisely because it's unwanted... that's pretty much the definition. I don't think there is another source of law in healthy cases/systems.
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jplayer01 2682 days ago
Not all unwanted behaviors are illegal. Some countries tax soda in order to reduce soda consumption. A behavior is not unwanted iff it's illegal. A behavior is illegal iff it's unwanted. It's not necessary for a behavior to be illegal in order to be unwanted. Illegal behavior is just a subset of the other.

But aside from that, and in this case, I feel the barriers to making it illegal are far higher than fining companies in other ways.

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