Labour to ban Facebook if they don't pay more tax

Forums › ICT Policies and Regulation › Labour to ban Facebook if they don't pay more tax

DarkShadow

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#139136 29-Jan-2014 01:37

The Labour Party has put forward a possible solution to force multi-national corporations to pay more tax – ban them from the internet.

It says the Government should first talk with companies like Facebook, but if that doesn't work it is important to have a backup, something Labour is describing as a credible threat.

Facebook is the world's largest social network by far, but pays little tax here in New Zealand.

"The Government should always have in its back pocket the ability to ban websites," says Labour revenue spokesman David Clark.

http://www.3news.co.nz/Labour-threatens-Facebook-ban-over-tax-issue/tabid/1607/articleID/330056/Default.aspx#ixzz2rhE2ZCrK

This is so stupid I don't know where to begin.

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#976375 29-Jan-2014 01:42

seems about as likely as the idea of 'banning' geoblocking.

hio77

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Lizard Networks

#976376 29-Jan-2014 02:06

i cant help but laugh about it..

oh the wonders i miss out of not watching the news..

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khull

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#976387 29-Jan-2014 07:06

They say government is 5 years behind reality rings true. I admire the values the party has but gosh they have some really silly ideas in their approach.

Really every single MP that wishes to comment about IT should take a crash course on networking. There are places where FaceBook is actually banned and people get around it

DarthKermit

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#976388 29-Jan-2014 07:09

To be fair, Labour need the extra cash to pay people to pop out more kids.

Whatifthespacekeyhadneverbeeninvented?

chevrolux

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#976392 29-Jan-2014 07:22

Guess we might as well move to China then.

This is why the DIA filter is a bad thing. Im glad Snap don't use it.

freitasm

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#976394 29-Jan-2014 07:31

Note that the quote is "The Government should always have in its back pocket the ability to ban websites,"

It doesn't say "only in case of tax evasion."

Welcome to your new Labour Overlords, who will one day cull dissent by blocking sites and services. Oh sure, some folks will say it will never happen. Right.

MikeB4

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#976396 29-Jan-2014 07:32

I agree with the move to try an enforce tax compliance on corporations, Google is another that is not paying its share.

A ban would be meaningless to these corporations we are just a mere rounding error on their revenue returns.

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freitasm

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#976397 29-Jan-2014 07:33

Exactly. They have to find another way of enforcing tax code/regulations.

MikeB4

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#976398 29-Jan-2014 07:35

freitasm: Note that the quote is "The Government should always have in its back pocket the ability to ban websites,"

It doesn't say "only in case of tax evasion."

Welcome to your new Labour Overlords, who will one day cull dissent by blocking sites and services. Oh sure, some folks will say it will never happen. Right.

Hmmm if it smells like FUD it quite often is FUD 😉😉;-)

freitasm

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#976400 29-Jan-2014 07:37

One thing is FUD. Another thing is FUD.

You rather wait and see things happening instead of just saying "folks, don't go down that lane, it's hard to come back later"?

MikeB4

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#976401 29-Jan-2014 07:42

freitasm: One thing is FUD. Another thing is FUD.

You rather wait and see things happening instead of just saying "folks, don't go down that lane, it's hard to come back later"?

The lawful closure of illegal activity on the internet should always be a sanction available.

freitasm

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#976402 29-Jan-2014 07:46

Here is where you are wrong. These site's online activities are not illegal.

They are not doing tax evasion. They have very good accountants that know that by using companies in some places they can pay less tax. Legally.

Deal with it. It's not illegal. The government has a loophole in the tax system. Get the MPs to close it with a new reformed tax law. But don't come with crap about closing sites because it can be used for other things.

MikeB4

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#976407 29-Jan-2014 07:57

freitasm: Here is where you are wrong. These site's online activities are not illegal.

They are not doing tax evasion. They have very good accountants that know that by using companies in some places they can pay less tax. Legally.

Deal with it. It's not illegal. The government has a loophole in the tax system. Get the MPs to close it with a new reformed tax law. But don't come with crap about closing sites because it can be used for other things.

I was not referring to these sites, I was referring to non specific sites in response to your post re banning on the internet.

Clearly Googles and Facebooks activity is not illegal. I am saying that as with any part of society the legsl closure of illegal activity is a sanction the judiciary should have at its disposal.

NonprayingMantis

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#976409 29-Jan-2014 08:15

KiwiNZ:
freitasm: Here is where you are wrong. These site's online activities are not illegal.

They are not doing tax evasion. They have very good accountants that know that by using companies in some places they can pay less tax. Legally.

Deal with it. It's not illegal. The government has a loophole in the tax system. Get the MPs to close it with a new reformed tax law. But don't come with crap about closing sites because it can be used for other things.

I was not referring to these sites, I was referring to non specific sites in response to your post re banning on the internet.

Clearly Googles and Facebooks activity is not illegal. I am saying that as with any part of society the legsl closure of illegal activity is a sanction the judiciary should have at its disposal.

Sounds nice in theory, but even aside from the 'slippery slope' argument there is also the problem that it is virtually impossible in practice to have a real impact

For a start, The Nz government has no jurisdiction to shut down websites hosted in other countries.

They could, in theory, get ISPs to filter out websites such as pirate bay, as they try in the uk, but actually getting that to happen will cost millions AND it won't work because anybody can use a VPN to get around any sort of ISP filtering.

gzt

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#976422 29-Jan-2014 08:32

Blocking is a really stupid idea, and not needed in this case anyway. Not that facebook would really care. The labour guy started backpedalling hours if not minutes after making that statement. Realistically this kind of thing is a constant threat from all mainstream political parties.

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