[michaelt]

I've got some sympathy for this in the case of countries other than the US and China.

After all, if Stanford does research funded by the US taxpayer, develops a new ML technology and gives it away for free, Google/Facebook will make a bunch of money from it, which they'll pay US taxes on.

But if École Polytechnique does research funded by the French taxpayer, develops a new ML technology and gives it away for free? Google/Facebook will make a bunch of money from it, which they'll pay US taxes on - while the French economy will see a much smaller upside.

[marcus_holmes]

> Google/Facebook will make a bunch of money from it, which they'll pay US taxes on.

hahahhaahhaaa. Um no. Possibly some Irish taxes? Maybe some Virgin Islands taxes?

[kortilla]

You’re confusing federal income tax with federal taxes in general. Google pays significant federal taxes any time they grant out stock or pay cash to employees/execs via payroll taxes.

There isn’t a way to avoid the taxation when that excess profit leaves the company somehow to shareholders. Even buybacks that cause stock appreciation lead to significant fed revenue when people sell.

[emodendroket]

At the very least they're going to be doing payroll taxes.

[marcus_holmes]

Google and Facebook are both multinational companies, employing people in many different countries. I guess there's probably a majority of their payroll expenses in the USA, but I have no idea.