Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by dlahoda 5 days ago
When fines became casual? Is it like taxes?
2 comments

No of course not. Ireland makes sure Google doesn't pay the minimum tax rate in the EU:

https://www.irishexaminer.com/business/companies/arid-417489...

€4.536bn on €86.6bn, or about 5% (which is one third of the amount Ireland promised in an international treaty they would charge ...)

It is functionally just a form of tax that can't be offshored.

Corporations reliably break the law, the EU reliably enforces it.

I'm actually happy that this is the path the EU went, as there's a financial incentive to keep laws which benefit consumers.

> It is functionally just a form of tax that can't be offshored.

Hey now, give the lobbyists some time. You know they don't do anything unless a pretty big dinner is involved and that takes a few weeks: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/24/trump-eu-tarriffs-t...

And while this sucks, it's not like Europe's motives are any better. It's just about the money.