The World Economy always was shaped by the Empires...since the Ancient Egypt, the Greeks and the Romans, since the ancient time of China and India, until the not so distant British and European Empires and the present US Empire (almost 21 trillion of GDP /329 million people, against, for example, 14 trillion GDP of China /1.443 million people, 1.4 trillion of Brazil /211 million people*?).
But in a limited Earth, how much can the Empire expand? Concerning the economical power, how many countries are necessary to do an opposition to the US GDP? The BRICS (Brazil-1.4 /211 million people, Russia-1.4 /146 million people, India-2.6 /1,3 billion people, China-14.7 /1,4 billion people, South Africa-0,3 / 59 million people; BRICS = 20,4 GDP /3,1 billion people) can decides to do this opposition?
And at the side of the Empire and the States, with their sovereign power, we have the Corporations and the billionaires (for example, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Bill Gates - each one with more than 100 billions**, that is higher than the GDP of entire countries). The fortune of Bezos is higher than, for example, the sum of the GDP of Uganda (GDP 37 / 45 million people) plus Bolivia (GDP 37 / 11 million people) plus Lebanon (GDP 33 / 6,8 million people). One man has a fortune that is higher than the production of 60 million of persons in a year! And here is important to think that presidents came and go, but these billionaires remains during a long period of time. Is the billionaire the new Pharaoh? Certainly not, because this last one was the divine in Earth...but billionaires can shape the World Economy more than can some countries...as well as shape the "Democracies" of the countries with their money and their global corporations if they want, only by buying online advertisements with political purposes.
And now, after the phenomenon of the International Organizations [ Bank for International Settlements (BIS), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), International Labour Organization (ILO), International Monetary Fund (IMF), International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), World Bank (WB), World Health Organization (WHO), World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), World Trade Organization (WTO) ], we start to see more efforts (OECD) to the creation of a minimum tax obligation by which the taxable fact is an activity typically made by a global corporation in a digital economical environment***.
More than put a limit to the tax war among the countries and to the loss of income by the States in a digital global economy, should the earnings of this new global tax be the food of a World Leviathan? Not yet...
It was said by OECD that, in one side, the "in-scope companies are the multinational enterprises (MNEs) with global turnover above 20 billion euros and profitability above 10% (i.e. profit before tax/revenue) with the turnover threshold to be reduced to 10 billion euros", observing that "there will be a new special purpose nexus rule permitting allocation ... to a market jurisdiction when the in-scope MNE derives at least 1 million euros in revenue from that jurisdiction", as well as observing that the "revenue will be sourced to the end market jurisdictions where goods or services are used or consumed" (4).
According to the Annual Report (5) of Alphabet, whom owns Google:
the Total Revenues was: $ 136 billions (2018), 161 billions (2019), 182 billions (2020),
the Income before the income tax: 34 billions (2018), 39 billions (2019), 48 billions (2020),
what implies in a margin of profitability around 25%,
and the Net Income was: 30 billions (2018), 34 billions (2019), 40 billions (2020)
How some Big Techs uses tax heavens, the present Empire and other countries wants they come back home (maybe by different reasons) or, at least, pay something in the Jurisdiction where they made profit.
And, at the side of the first pillar, also there is a proposal for "MNEs that meet the 750 million euros threshold" by two basic rules: an Income Inclusion Rule (IIR) as tax on the parent legal entity when the subsidiary has low taxation; and an Undertaxed Payment Rule (UTPR) as "denies deductions or requires an equivalent adjustment to the extent the low tax income of a constituent entity is not subject to tax under" the IIR. So, there is no way to avoid because the two ends are tied. IIR + UTPR = GloBE (Global anti-Base Erosion Rules).
But the main issue is not related with tax...but with politics, technology, war and human nature.
Observes what we have as human specie:
- we have an Empire with a GDP of 21 trillion for 329 million people, at the same time we have a GDP of 20 trillion for 3.100 million people;
- we have a single person with a fortune that is higher than 100 billions and higher than the production of 60 million of persons in a year!;
- we have a company that can produce 40 billions/year, what is more than the GDP of Paraguay, or of Lebanon, or of many other countries.
- and we have persons, humans beings, that at this moment are starving, without clothes, without home.
Now, two provocations for you, dear reader:
If you were the owner of the Earth, what you will do with this situation?
And considering that you are not the owner, what all this really matter in your daily life?...well, if you are doing business and politics, or are interested in philosophy, economy or human nature, maybe the end of this article can be the beginning of our conversation.
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July, 2021
Rafael De Conti,
a corruptive influence,
Philosopher and Lawyer
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