Victoria Espinel, the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator

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Are they angry that these firms are legally trying to minimize tax? If so, they must not understand that management has a fiduciary obligation to maximize after-tax returns for shareholders.

Are they implying that these businesses are cheating on their tax returns? If so, they clearly do not understand the difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion.

Are they agitating for governments to impose worldwide taxation so that companies are double-taxed on any income earned (and already subject to tax) in other jurisdictions? If so, they should forthrightly admit this is their goal, notwithstanding the destructive, anti-competitive impact of such a policy.

Or, perhaps, could it be the case that leftists on both sides of the Atlantic don’t like tax competition? But rather than openly argue for tax harmonization and other policies that would lead to higher taxes and a loss of fiscal sovereignty, they think they will have more luck expanding the power of government by employing demagoguery against the big, bad, multinational companies and small, low-tax jurisdictions.

To give these statists credit, they are being smart. Tax competition almost certainly is the biggest impediment that now exists to restrain big government. Greedy politicians understand that high taxes may simply lead the geese with the golden eggs to fly across the border. Indeed, competition between governments is surely the main reason that tax rates have dropped so dramatically in the past 30 years. This video explains”

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“The transitions to farming and to industry were associated with huge sudden increases in growth rates. Growth had remained pretty steady before each transition, and then boom, within a quarter of a previous doubling time, doubling times fell by over a factor of 150. Going by the number of doublings in these previous modes, we are already overdue for another transition. So I suspect that within a century or so we will see another such “singularity.” And since the current doubling time is about fifteen years, we should roughly expect that within a space of about five years the world economy will transition to doubling every few weeks or less.

[...] which places will gain most from the next transition?

[...] a [...] factor may matter most: legal and regulatory flexibility. If it is to radically remake the economy within a space of five years, this new mode will quickly run afoul of a wide range of existing laws and regulations. Places that require many years of discourse between diverse stakeholders to begin even incremental legal and regulatory changes are just not going to be where this new mode first grows big. Much more promising are places where new industries and ventures can just do things, or lobby a small set of key decision makers to quickly get big changes, and commit to keeping such changes. Random empty declarations of policy changes that could easily be soon reversed, or not enforced, won’t do either.”

http://www.overcomingbias.com/2010/11/flexible-law-wins.html

sequel: http://www.overcomingbias.com/2010/11/expand-bounty-hunting.html

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“Hungary’s parliament voted by an overwhelming majority yesterday (12 October) to nationalise the company [in fact, any company, without legal constraints, by government decree] responsible for the toxic sludge spill from a ruptured reservoir one week earlier, which killed eight [nine] people and caused the country’s worst ever ecological disaster. [...]

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán also announced the arrest of the company’s CEO, Zoltán Bakonyi, who stands accused of endangering the public and harming the environment.

The law stipulates that the government must freezes all MAL’s assets and appoint a new board. Government sources said the company would be headed by Gyorgy Bakondi, head of the government’s disaster response service.

Reportedly, as well as being responsible for maintaining operations and protecting jobs, Bakondi will also be in charge of determining the company’s responsibilities, launching a compensation scheme for the victims and making sure that similar accidents do not happen again.

According to reports, MAL Zrt has a turnover of 157 million euros. The company is co-owned by Árpád Bakonyi, Lajos Tolnay and Béla Petrusz, all three of whom appear in a list of the 30 richest people in Hungary. The Hungarian press puts the fortune of Tolnay at 85 million euros, while Bakonyi and Petrusz are estimated to have 61 million euros each.” http://www.euractiv.com/en/climate-environment/hungary-nationalises-sludge-spill-company-news-498752

According to the PM Orbán, shareholders of MAL will be liable with their personal assets as well.

The text of the amendment of Act CV 2004 on defense [in Hungarian]: http://www.complex.hu/jr/gen/hjegy_doc.cgi?docid=A1000093.TV

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“US Trade Representative Ron Kirk, whose office negotiated the US side of the deal, issued a statement this morning about the “tremendous progress in the fight against counterfeiting and piracy,” but the real story here is the tremendous climbdown by US negotiators, who have largely failed in their attempts to push the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) onto the rest of the world.” http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/10/near-final-acta-text-arrives-big-failure-for-us.ars

Original as of 2 Oct: http://www.ustr.gov/webfm_send/2338

Compare versions: http://euwiki.org/ACTA/diffs

http://keionline.org/node/962

http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/5352/125/

Cf: http://theunitedpersons.org/blog/tag/ACTA

Mexico:
“it’s not clear exactly how much say the Mexican Senate has here. While the resolution claims that it needs to ratify any such agreements, I don’t know if that’s the case.” Comment: “Actually means a lot, even though is non-binding it was adopted by all every single senator and the final say on international treaties is on the Senate. The President can ratify if he wishes ACTA, but the Senate needs to approve it. And they are not very willing to.” http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101005/17320811304/mexican-senate-unanimously-votes-to-remove-mexico-from-acta-negotations.shtml

Original:
Spanish: http://www.senado.gob.mx/index.php?ver=sp&mn=2&sm=2&id=5264&lg=61
Translation: http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http://www.senado.gob.mx/index.php%3Fver%3Dsp%26mn%3D2%26sm%3D2%26id%3D5264%26lg%3D61&hl=en&langpair=auto

Cf: http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/10/06/2321203/Mexican-Senate-Votes-To-Drop-Out-of-ACTA

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Lawmakers introduced legislation yesterday that would let the Justice Department seek U.S. court orders against “piracy” websites anywhere in the world, and shut them down through the sites’ domain registration:

“[...] the court may issue a temporary restraining order, a preliminary injunction, or an injunction against the domain name used by an Internet site dedicated to infringing activities to cease and desist from undertaking any infringing activity in violation of this section [...]” pp. 3-4.

“The Attorney General may commence an in rem action against any domain name used by an Internet site in the judicial district in which the domain name registrar or domain name registry is located [...]” p.4.

“(2) DOMAINS FOR WHICH THE REGISTRY OR REGISTRAR IS NOT LOCATED DOMESTICALLY.— [...] the in rem action may be brought in the District of Columbia to prevent the importation into the United States of goods and services offered by an Internet site dedicated to infringing activities if
(i) the domain name is used to access such Internet site in the United States; and
(ii) the Internet site
(I) conducts business directed to residents of the United States; and
(II) harms intellectual property rights holders that are residents of the United States.” pp. 5-6.

“The Attorney General shall maintain a public listing of domain names that, upon information and reasonable belief, the Department of Justice determines are dedicated to infringing activities but for which the Attorney General has not filed an action under this section. [...] the individual may obtain judicial review of such determination in a civil action commenced not later than 90 days after notice of such decision [...] A civil action for such judicial review shall be brought [...] in the District Court of the United States for the District of Columbia.” pp. 12-13.

http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/threatlevel/2010/09/CombatingOnlineInfringementAndCounterfeitsAct1.pdf

Cf. http://theunitedpersons.org/blog/tag/iceland

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“Even in our own lifetime, we can recall how Britain and her leaders stood against a Nazi tyranny that wished to eradicate God from society and denied our common humanity to many, especially the Jews, who were thought unfit to live. I also recall the regime’s attitude to Christian pastors and religious who spoke the truth in love, opposed the Nazis and paid for that opposition with their lives. As we reflect on the sobering lessons of the atheist extremism of the twentieth century, let us never forget how the exclusion of God, religion and virtue from public life leads ultimately to a truncated vision of man and of society and thus to a “reductive vision of the person and his destiny”” http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2010/september/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20100916_incontro-autorita_en.html

Cf. “[...] as well as religious fanaticism that in some contexts impedes the exercise of the right to religious freedom, so too the deliberate promotion of religious indifference or practical atheism on the part of many countries obstructs the requirements for the development of peoples, depriving them of spiritual and human resources. God is the guarantor of man’s true development, inasmuch as, having created him in his image, he also establishes the transcendent dignity of men and women and feeds their innate yearning to “be more”. Man is not a lost atom in a random universe: he is God’s creature, whom God chose to endow with an immortal soul and whom he has always loved. If man were merely the fruit of either chance or necessity, or if he had to lower his aspirations to the limited horizon of the world in which he lives, if all reality were merely history and culture, and man did not possess a nature destined to transcend itself in a supernatural life, then one could speak of growth, or evolution, but not development. When the State promotes, teaches, or actually imposes forms of practical atheism, it deprives its citizens of the moral and spiritual strength that is indispensable for attaining integral human development and it impedes them from moving forward with renewed dynamism as they strive to offer a more generous human response to divine love. In the context of cultural, commercial or political relations, it also sometimes happens that economically developed or emerging countries export this reductive vision of the person and his destiny to poor countries. This is the damage that “superdevelopment” causes to authentic development when it is accompanied by “moral underdevelopment”.” http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20090629_caritas-in-veritate_en.html#29.

vs.

“The notion that it was the atheism of Nazis (who were mostly not atheists in any case) that led to their extremist and hateful views or that somehow fuels intolerance in Britain today is a terrible libel against those who do not believe in god. The notion that it is non-religious people in the UK today who want to force their views on others, coming from a man whose organisation exerts itself internationally to impose its narrow and exclusive form of morality and undermine the human rights of women, children, gay people and many others, is surreal.” http://www.humanism.org.uk/news/view/647

Cf. “Why was the line “(who were mostly not atheists in any case)” removed from your article [ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11332515 ]? Even if that line had not been in the quote (which it was) surely it is your duty and obligation to the public to make it clear that Hitler and the majority of the Nazis were Catholics? Are you trying to distort the facts and lead people to believe the Nazi’s were atheists? Surely comparing any group to Nazis is the worst insult which can be made. If you think about it why would atheists want to kill only Jews, homosexuals, intellectuals and non-whites?” http://richarddawkins.net/discussions/519631-bbc-unfair-reporting-and-bias

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> We just reached the 369 signatures of Members of the European Parliament
> required for WD12 to be adopted!!!
>
> Completion of WD12 shows that alltogether we can weight in making the
> European Parliament take care of our fundamental freedoms. With WD12,
> the European Parliament rejects both the un-democratic process of ACTA
> – -whatever the final content of the agreement will be- and its content,
> harmful for fundamental freedoms.
>
> WD12 is a strong political signal sent by the EP to the Commission that
> ACTA is not tolerable as a way of bypassing democratic process; that
> legislation related to Internet, freedom of speech and privacy cannot be
> traded off in secrecy and under full influence of entertainment industry
> lobbies. Whatever the content of the final agreement, ACTA will remain
> an illegitimate circumvention of democracy and should be opposed as such.
>
> Let’s hope that WD12 announces the “consent” vote that the EP will have
> to take in order to accept or reject ACTA when it is finalized. Then
> again, citizens will need to act to make sure that their Internet and
> their fundamental freedoms are properly defended, by a full rejection of
> ACTA.
>
>
> Thanks to everyone who participated in that great effort!
[On Tue, Sep 07, 2010 at 05:10:47PM +0200, Jérémie ZIMMERMANN - La Quadrature du Net wrote]

Cf. http://www.laquadrature.net/en/european-parliament-vs-acta-rejection-is-the-only-option

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The future of the internet – A virtual counter-revolution: “The internet has been a great unifier of people, companies and online networks. Powerful forces are threatening to balkanise it [...] Theory demonstrates that interconnected networks such as the internet can grow quickly, he explains—but also that they can dissolve quickly. “This looks rather unlikely today, but if it happens, it will be too late to do anything about it.”” http://www.economist.com/node/16941635

Cf. http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/08/ff_webrip/all/1
http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2010/08/whats-wrong-with-x-is-dead/61663/
https://projects.eff.org/~barlow/Declaration-Final.html

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The WikiLeaks advised parliamentary resolution proposal to build an international “new media haven” in Iceland, with the world’s strongest press and whistleblower protection laws, and a “Nobel” prize for Freedom of Expression [cf. http://theunitedpersons.org/blog/tag/iceland ] has passed through a vote at Alþingi and was accepted today at 8:54am with a unanimous vote.

50 votes were cast in favor, zero against, one abstained. Twelve members of parliament were not present. Vote results are available at http://www.althingi.is/dba-bin/atkvgr.pl?nnafnak=43014

One of the inspirations for the proposal was the dramatic August 2009 gagging of Iceland’s national broadcaster, RUV by Iceland’s then largest bank, Kaupthing.

Two changes were made to the proposal from its original form as per the opinion of the parliament’s general affairs committee [ http://www.althingi.is/altext/138/s/1329.html ]. The first of these altered slightly the wording of the first paragraph so as to widen the arena for research. The second of these added two new items to the list of tasks for the government:

• That the government should perform a detailed analysis, especially with respect to operational security, for the prospect of operating data centers in Iceland.

• That the government should organize an international conference in Iceland regarding the changes to the legal environment being caused by expansion of cloud computing, data havens, and the judicial state of the Internet.

Video footage from the proposal’s vote will be available at:

http://www.althingi.is/altext/hlusta.php?raeda=rad20100616T033127&horfa=1

http://www.althingi.is/altext/hlusta.php?raeda=rad20100616T033306&horfa=1

A more detailed press release will follow.

For details of the proposal and press contacts, please see http://www.immi.is

___
The United Persons: Congratulations!)

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Iceland new media haven bill before parliament in days. We NEED statements of endorsement NOW or NEVER to core@immi.is http://twitter.com/wikileaks/statuses/15399523963

Iceland: we http://theunitedpersons.org need you NOW or NEVER:)

Cf. http://immi.is/?l=en&p=endorsements

http://theunitedpersons.org/blog/the-legislative-initiative-outlined-he

http://theunitedpersons.org/blog/icelandic-modern-media-initiative-video

Via stef

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The solution for Israelis and Palestinians: a parallel state structure “[...] the idea suggests the creation of two-state structures on the same land, both covering the whole territory, both providing the freedom for their citizens – Israelis and Palestinians – to live between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River.

The most important innovation of a parallel state structure is that state sovereignty would be linked primarily with the individual citizen, and only in a secondary way with territory. Separating the territorial and citizenship/identity dimensions of sovereignty would allow Israelis and Palestinians to retain their national symbols, have political and legislative bodies that are responsible to their own electorate, and retain a high degree of political independence.

Precisely by no longer defining sovereignty through exclusive control over territory, this structure would enable the creation of an independent Palestinian state while preserving the state of Israel, both Jewish and democratic. The contours of political authority and security would be shared by the two states in a manner that guarantees the long-term secure existence of each community. It would be guaranteed by international treaty and, if necessary, a strong international monitoring presence.

Legal, educational, and other functions that pertain to each state’s relationship with citizens would be exercised separately, while those that necessarily encompass the whole territory would be shared or in common. [...]”

http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2010/0408/The-solution-for-Israelis-and-Palestinians-a-parallel-state-structure

“I want to take this out of the context of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute and suggest that it is a great idea in general. I live in teachers-occupied territory. That is, the teachers’ union governs Montgomery County, Maryland. I would like to have a different sovereign, but without having to move. Under virtual federalism (as proposed in the widely-unread Unchecked and Unbalanced), we would unbundle the services that the County provides. I could then contract with another provider for trash collection, snow removal, fire protection, or other services. [...]

The key, I think, is to transfer people’s emotional attachment from their government to something else, like a religious sect, ethnic identity, or a sports team. You can have Yankee fans and Red Sox fans living next door to one another without infringing on each others’ rights. It’s when people give their emotional loyalty to government that you get friction.”

http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2010/05/virtual_federal.html

Cf.

http://theunitedpersons.org/blog/the-pulls-of-conflicting-loyalties

Cf.

http://www.amazon.com/New-Democratic-Federalism-Europe-Jurisdictions/dp/1843769018

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Should Obama Control the Internet? – A new bill would give the President emergency authority to halt web traffic and access private data. http://motherjones.com/politics/2009/04/should-obama-control-internet

Cf.

“Netsukuku is the name of an experimental peer-to-peer routing system, developed by the FreakNet MediaLab (Italian), born to build up a distributed network, anonymous and censorship-free, fully independent but not necessarily separated from Internet, without the support of any server, ISP and no central authority. It does not rely on a backbone router, or on any routing equipment other than normal network interface cards.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netsukuku

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Here is what the theorem looks like in a picture:

[...]”

http://rodrik.typepad.com/dani_rodriks_weblog/2007/06/the-inescapable.html

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“It’s the kind of tax scam that we need to end. That’s why we are closing one of our biggest tax loopholes. It’s a loophole that lets subsidiaries of some of our largest companies tell the IRS that they’re paying taxes abroad, tell foreign governments that they’re paying taxes elsewhere — and avoid paying taxes anywhere. And closing this single loophole will save taxpayers tens of billions of dollars — money that can be spent on reinvesting in America — and it will restore fairness to our tax code by helping ensure that all our citizens and all our companies are paying what they should. [...]

“One of these measures would let the IRS know how much income Americans are generating in overseas accounts by requiring overseas banks to provide 1099s for their American clients, just like Americans have to do for their bank accounts here in this country. If financial institutions won’t cooperate with us, we will assume that they are sheltering money in tax havens, and act accordingly. And to ensure that the IRS has the tools it needs to enforce our laws, we’re seeking to hire nearly 800 more IRS agents to detect and pursue American tax evaders abroad.

“So all in all, these and other reforms will save American taxpayers $210 billion over the next 10 years — savings we can use to reduce the deficit, cut taxes for American businesses that are playing by the rules, and provide meaningful relief for hardworking families.”

May 4, 2009

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-By-The-President-On-International-Tax-Policy-Reform

Cf. http://theunitedpersons.org/blog/rowling-the-single-mother-s-manifesto

Cf.

“What Can You Do — The thing to do is acquire your offshore organization in place before the various countries ratify any new rules and regulations. Have your structure in place earlier so it will be grandfathered in. Next move all the assets you are thinking about moving offshore, out now. Do not wait or remain to see what will happen next.”

http://offshore-tax.com/

Cf. http://theunitedpersons.org/blog/states-let-them-prey-on-atoms-but-not-on-bits

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