[jariel]

It's just unbelievable to consider that Amazon, AirBnB etc. have been so successful due to tax irregularities, and of course, when at scale, they G and A can doe this via Dublin loopholes etc..

When bureaucrats are searching for ways to make money, and they always all, for god's sake why don't they go to the obvious places first?

We also have to consider how much our subsidized postal systems are really just subsidizing one form of business over another.

[throw_m239339]

> When bureaucrats are searching for ways to make money, and they always all, for god's sake why don't they go to the obvious places first?

Because some of their friends also benefit from these loopholes, though at a smaller scale I imagine. The whole "stupidity/malice" addage has always been a euphemism for "corruption" in my book. There is an insane amount of potentially taxable money and a lot of states dearly need that money, especially right now.

> We also have to consider how much our subsidized postal systems are really just subsidizing one form of business over another.

Yeah, but you could say that for roads as well, or any utility none of these businesses helped create and from which they profit. That's why taxation exists at first place. Imagine Amazon having to build/maintain their own roads to deliver parcels...

I'm a bit more lenient with Amazon from an ethical perspective. Airbnb, Uber and co, deliberatly violating local laws with their illegal taxis/hotels on the other hand, and the shear inability for governments to crackdown on these services... not because founders are geniuses, because VC money helps exploit justice systems. I can assure you that if I were to launch a bootstrapped Airbnb like service in my home country I'd be shut down in a week and probably jailed...

[jariel]

"Yeah, but you could say that for roads as well, or any utility"

No, roads are socialized, not subsidized.

We socialize them because it would be impossible otherwise - each road represents a kind of 'single access point'.

Package delivery - other than possibly ensuring packages are delivered to remote areas - does not need to be socialized, and probably not subsidized.

Farming - again, absolutely not socialized, because it would be absurd for our governments to be running all of our farms - but - there are strategic subsidies because 'on the whole' we want to make sure certain crop availability (and for other reasons).

We subsidize entertainment: want to make a movie in Canada? You get tax breaks.

There's no reason at all to allow for skimping out on VAT for most online services.

And FYO with respect to 'looking for tax loopholes' - don't discount the ineffectiveness of the bureaucracy. We are 10 months into a pandemic, and the PM of Canada, just 2 days ago, the PM of Canada was zooming with a Big Tech CEO about some cool ideas for 'Apps with Contact Tracing' and other things that they have absolutely made 0 progress on. Compared to places like Taiwan and S. Korea and their very active operational engagement of COVID, sometimes I wonder how the mail actually does get delivered.

[indymike]

There is more to Airbnb's success than just a better deal than a room. Something that makes little sense is that a 200 room hotel, let alone the hotel industry, should be able to crush Airbnb on price in any local market. The Airbnb operator has little operational efficiency, aside marketing and IT (provided by Airbnb) in comparison. Taxation (my hometown taxes rooms at 17%) might be some of it, but it seems much larger than that.

[bawolff]

> We also have to consider how much our subsidized postal systems are really just subsidizing one form of business over another.

Canada post is not exactly subsidized: https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/business/canada-post-group-rep...

But even if it was, this is precisely the type of thing it makes sense to subsidize, since its a business that enables other businesses.

[pjc50]

He's probably referring to the international postage system which makes it cheaper to ship from China than in- country.

[jariel]

1) Canada post is a crown corporation and is effectively subsidized [1]. It's existence is guaranteed, it effectively cannot go insolvent, as such it receives considerably better terms of business than otherwise. And more.

2) "its a business that enables other businesses"

Almost all businesses 'enable other businesses' - this is absolutely not a reason to subsidize package delivery.

In fact, it's the opposite of a reason.

If there is a reason, it's to ensure some kind of common mail delivery particularly to remote outposts.

[1] https://lfpress.com/opinion/columnists/canada-post-back-to-a....

[onemiketwelve]

And a business that used to enable communication between residents, business, and government