matthewb
@matthewb
how on earth is the china deal finalized before canada lmao https://x.com/watcherguru/status/1938333295735160985
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vincent
@xxc
TIL canada is "a very difficult country to trade with"
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matthewb
@matthewb
trump's comments are silly but this decision is due to carney's digital services tax which is bad policy imo
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vincent
@xxc
imo it’s all connected. trade includes services too. DST is fair: if you profit here, you should pay tax here. the old rules let digital giants slip through the cracks. lots of countries are done letting that slide.
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matthewb
@matthewb
I don’t think it makes sense. let’s say I make chairs. someone from france buys my chairs. I don’t need to pay income tax to the french gov, I’m not operating in their country. same with meta or whatever. they’re not operating here, the internet just happens to make everything a global economy. doesn’t make sense to pay income tax everywhere. canada is just going after this $$ because our economy is so bad and we have very little industry of our own.
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vincent
@xxc
you're talking about income tax. DST isn’t that. it’s a tax on revenue earned in a market, like a sales tax for platforms.
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matthewb
@matthewb
personal income tax = tax on revenue earned as an individual, corporate income tax = tax on revenue earned as a biz. same thing. why pay corporate taxes in a country in which you don’t operate? if they had physical operations here I would completely agree but afaik that’s not the case, maybe I’m wrong though. I get why canada is doing it. I would do the same in their shoes since they have nothing else besides housing to prop up the numbers.
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vincent
@xxc
fair points. yet, DST isn’t about physical presence. it’s about economic activity. if a company makes billions from canadian users, runs targeted ads, and sells access to our market, that’s doing business here. local businesses pay taxes. these platforms should too. tariffs are painful, sure. but letting big tech operate tax-free while everyone else pays is worse in the long run.
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matthewb
@matthewb
yeah, I understand your pov and it makes sense! I think I would agree more strongly if I felt these taxes would actually benefit me in some way, but like the taxes I pay they mostly don’t haha. all I want is for Carney to drop the tough guy act and get the counter-tariffs dropped asap, they are doing small businesses no favours atm. I hope we see a deal before eoy.
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