[Claudus]

Personally, I'd rather that Google keep as much of their money as possible and continue to spend it as they see fit.

I believe that society benefits far more from a company like Google having and spending the money than any federal government.

[wmt]

Good that you raise Google as an example!

As Google is currently paying almost no taxes, I'm curious that how and how much is Google spending its money to support stuff now supported by the federal government?

For instance, how much is Google paying to people living on federal welfare money, and as the current job markets are what they are, would they have to decide between starving and stealing to survive, or could they still survive with Google handouts?

Military spending is a huge portion of the federal budget. While it is ludicrous how much money is being burned in it, what kind of shape would be military be with the money Google & co are currently spending to support it?

Medicare and Medicaid also are big items in the federal budget. How much is Google spending to offer health care to people who cannot for whatever reason, e.g. disability, cannot pay for it?

[gaius]

Google is here in the UK, but why? Well there is the educated workforce to hire, there is a stable business environment, there is infrastructure that works most of the time etc. Now they could go and set up somewhere there really is no tax to be paid, Somalia maybe, but how long would those "global business geniuses" last there? Not long. What would happen to a Google Bus in downtown Mogadishu?

Google and companies like it can only exist in the benign environment created by strong-ish national governments. Pretending otherwise is just foolish.

[amirmc]

> "Now they could go and set up somewhere there really is no tax to be paid ..."

This is pretty much what they do, with legal entities in different jurisdictions. Then they can move money around such that the 'profit' is always made in a low-tax environment. For example, I always found it amusing that the invoices for my Amazon purchases had anything to do with Luxembourg (a country with <600k people), until I learned more about how tax havens work. Especially, about the process of 'capturing the state'.

If anyone would like to read more about Tax Havens (aka Secrecy Jurisdictions) I thoroughly recommend the book Treasure Islands by Nicholas Shaxson [1]. (Disclosure: that's an affiliate link for my college's library).

[1] http://www.amazon.co.uk/Treasure-Islands-Havens-Stole-World/...

[techsupporter]

Awesome. I am very interested to read your round-estimate list of what items to cut from the Federal and state budgets (only the state where you live or have an active interest, just for brevity's sake). If you would, please provide either a dollar or percentage amount.

Bonus points if you can get to 10 items per entity that comprise at least 20% of either entity's budget.

(To reply to my own snark: "Just cut taxes" sounds great until you realize that SSI, Medicare, and the military are far and away our largest expenditures in at the federal level of the United States. In Texas, health care and education together account for 54% of the state budget. What to cut, indeed.)

[justincormack]

OK but shrink the government first. Then you can cut taxes. And cut them for everyone not just companies who can afford a Dutch sandwich.

[clavalle]

Not me.

Maybe I've seen too much big money fraud, but sometimes the combined weight of a very wealthy and powerful federal government is all we have separating the mostly civil society we have now to one where we are constantly being bilked by what amounts to mobsters.

I'll give you an example. The urine screening industry. Many players in that industry set up labs and then proceeded to give doctors, hospitals and clinics kickbacks for approving 'enhanced' urine tests for thousands of dollars rather than the dozens of dollars they used to cost.

The other players (insurance companies, honest competitors, the government) are slow to realize what's happening. Within a few years these unscrupulous companies have amassed a massive war chest.

Whistle blowers appear. They are sued into submission. Competitors complain. They are sued into submission. Insurance companies start to sue. They are sued in return. State level politicians are brought in as investors or otherwise paid so they can ride the gravy train. This gives insurance companies pause. In the mean time the owners and officers of these companies are still bilking all of us to the tune of hundreds of millions, maybe even billions of dollars.

Only the combined weight of the federal government with essentially all the time and money in the world, which has just now amassed enough evidence to go after some of the worst offenders, pose a threat to these people. Anything else is a mere nuisance.

Sometimes it is very, very good to have a counterweight to the power that can be bought.

[mempko]

Really? You don't want a democratic system dictating the spending on public and shared goods? Or you just don't believe in public and shared resources? Sounds like you want some kind of fascism maybe?