Your #Tax dollars at work.

With Trump reportedly planning to end the IRS Direct File program, there's no better time to remember how TurboTax owner Intuit spent two decades fighting to prevent Americans from filing their taxes online for free.

(Published 2019)
https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-turbotax-20-year-fight-to-stop-americans-from-filing-their-taxes-for-free?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

But at what cost...

Starbuck;s shows how intellectual property is used to transfer profits to low/no tax jurisdictions.

Starbucks in the UK made a £35m loss in 2024, but paid £40m in royalties to its parent company. You don't have to be an economist to see what is going on here.... royalties within a corporate group are not about 'ownership' of the brand, they are about where the profit is going to be taken.

The division that holds the Starbuck's IP will be in a low tax country!

#tax
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/apr/15/starbuckss-uk-retail-business-paid-no-corporation-tax-last-year

Billionaires and democracy cannot coexist.

The only answer is to remove the billionaires that run our society from power, take their stolen wealth and
use it to meet people’s needs. These six programs would be a crucial way to start building the new kind of society we deserve and desperately need.

https://pslweb.org

Credit: @pslnational on Instagram

Ofgem is exploring how to make the fixed costs of sustainable energy production proportional to income, because Ofgm think green energy will see a switch from an emphasis on variable costs to fixed costs & this could be regressive in economic terms.

This is all very well, but don't we have system by which costs can be allocated relating to income... its called the tax system - how long before they hit on a tax subsidy to energy generators?

And then (re)nationalisation?

#energy #Tax
h/t FT

It's Tax Day in the U.S. If you haven't filed, don't panic.

@WSJ explains how to file for an extension, noting that 1 in 8 Americans files late.

Gift link: https://flip.it/r3XAUS

justifying 2,000 hours of "market research" on Satisfactory under #IRS audit:

"you don't understand, let me show you what I can do with these hypertubes"

"sir, expenses needs to be BOTH ordinary AND necessary and this is neith—"

"you'll understand in a second"

[ 6 hour demonstration ]

“DWP PIP cuts under fire as Labour MP goes rogue and launches huge petition”

by Steve Topple in The Canary @thecanaryuk @UKLabour

“[Richard] Burgon has initiated a petition titled ‘Tax Wealth – Don’t Cut Disability Support,’ which has already attracted over 40,000 signatures, indicating robust support from the public”

https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2025/04/14/dwp-pip-petition-cuts/

Why the fexx do Americans think that corporations support corrupt (most of them) politicians in Congress, the Senate and the White House?

There has to be a return on that money. Maybe the US people could reconsider who is really to blame for a poor healthcare system and deteriorating public services? Not I should point out that companies donating to the Tories and Labour want anything different

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/15/silicon-six-accused-of-avoiding-almost-278bn-in-us-corporation-taxes-over-10-years

How much tax does Big Tech avoid paying?

the Fair Tax Foundation has looked at average tax rates paid by US corporations & the effective tax rates paid the 'Silicon Six' & has concluded they've paid around $278bn less than they should have over the last decade.

So if you wondered how the big tech moguls become so rich, the answer in part is we've been subsidising them....

[I would be very surprised if the European tax situation varies much from the US]

#tax #BigTech
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/15/silicon-six-accused-of-avoiding-almost-278bn-in-us-corporation-taxes-over-10-years

Promised Land: #Oklahoma has few restrictions on #religious property #tax #exemptions
From the Frontier.

#Frontier stated after publication 8 years ago they would do a follow up. Haven't seen it yet, but this original from them still hits hard. Go read it to get pissed off again.

https://freeshell.de/rdfrkian/0011_promised_land.html

France wants to make its one-off wealth tax permanent.

France's economy minister said Sunday that he wants to make a temporary tax on the wealthy into a permanent levy to make government financing "more equitable."

Eric Lombard said the measure would be part of efforts to find 40 billion euros next year, mainly from savings, to bring the public deficit to 4.6% of GDP in 2026.

https://mediafaro.org/article/20250413-france-wants-to-make-its-one-off-wealth-tax-permanent?mf_channel=mastodon&action=forward

Reminder that Belgian society loses around 2.3 billion EUR in tax #income every year due to a #tax rebate for company cars.

#Palantir Is helping #DOGE build an #API for accessing #IRS records

https://www.wired.com/story/palantir-doge-irs-mega-api-data/

https://www.europesays.com/uk/9786/ Facing Trump tariff threat, Germany’s new government bets big on boosting economy – POLITICO #Budget #Cars #Companies #Competitiveness #Conflict #Debt #Diesel #ElectricVehicles #Electricity #Energy #EnergyPrices #EU #Europe #Exports #farmers #FriedrichMerz #gas #Germany #Growth #Industry #infrastructure #Investment #MarcelFratzscher #Policy #PublicFunding #Regulatory #Research #Security #Stability #Steel #SupplyChains #Tariffs #Tax #Technology #Trade #War