Interesting Links for 06-04-2012
Apr. 6th, 2012 12:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
andrewducker- Amazon.co.uk: £7bn sales, no UK corporation tax
- A journalist writes about being rewritten by the Daily Mail, and why their articles all sound the same.
- A petition against the UK government snooping on email, websites, etc.
- Court rules that Tory NHS Bill was a violation of 2010 Manifesto (also, rushed, lacking in consulation, and smuggled in)
- Asda knocks out Kobo e-reader for £49 (I have the touch version, and adore it. This is a complete bargain)
- How taking the piss out of Peter Molyneux produced hundreds of indie games
- Mass Effect 3 to get new ending at no cost to gamers
- A fantastically entertaining discussion of who each incarnation of The Doctor would vote for
- Why Can't Humans and Hideous Pod People Work Together at this Real Estate Company?
- Asthma: A vaccination that works using intramuscular injection
- If you've ever wondered who is filming the amateur porn, here is your answer.
- The appalling way that Warner Brothers treats the Harry Potter translators
- It is Olympics policy not to pay musicians
- Proof that A level standards dropped a staggering amount between 1980-1999 (Conservative rule)
- More information on what causes people to eat more. Brain scans FTW
- Cigarettes disappear from supermarket shelves under new anti-smoking laws
- Can a neurotypical understand what autism is?
- Women only have themselves to blame for the lack of women in politics
- How hiring should be done
Tags:
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- asthma,
- autism,
- business,
- cigarettes,
- conservatives,
- copyright,
- cv,
- dailymail,
- drwho,
- eating,
- education,
- england,
- ereader,
- fiction,
- food,
- funny,
- games,
- harrypotter,
- hiring,
- jobs,
- journalism,
- kobo,
- links,
- masseffect,
- media,
- music,
- neuroscience,
- nhs,
- olympics,
- pay,
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- politics,
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- psychology,
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- warnerbros,
- women
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no subject
Date: 2012-04-06 01:38 pm (UTC)You could possibly argue (as I think the Guardian and other newspapers are) that the Luxembourg company (in this case actually only a subsidiary of an American company) should have subsidiaries in each of the countries it sells to and should pay corporate taxes on the profits each of those companies make in their respective countries. This would be completely against the idea of the single market though. And it would make it much more difficult for smaller companies to export to other countries (because they would have to set up a company in each country they shipped goods to).
You could have Brussels impose a uniform rate of corporate taxation across the EU, but that would be politically impossible and in any case would drive companies outside of the EU if the rates were too high. You could perhaps overcome this problem by imposing higher import duties on goods from outside the EU, but that is basically just protectionism, and that really isn't a good idea.
One thing that would work would be making corporate taxes in the UK more competitive than those in Luxembourg. Maybe that's what the Guardian is arguing for - lower corporation tax. Somehow, I doubt it...
no subject
Date: 2012-04-06 01:52 pm (UTC)I could see a solution whereby if you are actually shipping from inside the UK (as Amazon are) then that counts as a company, rather than merely a distribution hub. But that's going to be fiddly and lawyer-prone.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-06 03:29 pm (UTC)If countries with low corporate tax regimes attract company headquarters which in turn increases their EU contribution which is then spent on EU regional development & projects (including in the UK) then it's not quite as stark as £7bn sales no tax contribution.
Also, tax incidence considerations.
Also, payroll & income tax, business rates & VAT (will need to refresh my knowledge of cross border VAT).
no subject
Date: 2012-04-10 01:03 pm (UTC)http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/vat/managing/international/distance-selling.htm
no subject
Date: 2012-04-07 11:06 am (UTC)"It is important to be careful when making broad conclusions from a set of data of correlations. To be clear, what this study demonstrates is that the intake of physics students to Bristol university have shown a steady decline in achievement in a particular test Bristol university applies.
You have then taken this fact to apply a conclusion, that A-levels have become worse at preparing students for university physics. But sadly, as you have not presented the information on the students each year, it could equally be due to changing demographics in Bristol applications over that amount of time.
I suspect this study is reasonable evidence of a decline in certain A-level standards, but without demographic data it is currently not terribly meaningful.
You also suggest three conclusions as to why A-levels are worse, but these arguments are not as substantiated."
no subject
Date: 2012-04-07 05:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-07 05:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-08 06:23 am (UTC)