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https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=905210.msg
It is a thing many companies do. It is not uncommon for equipment to be sent and people declare it is warranty so some countries are cracking down on it and taxing it even if it is.
We get it taken from us here in the US as well, just in different ways.
When we ship to another country aside from Mexico or Canada if we do not fill out everything a certain way it can definitely cost the other company much more. On new Industrial Sales everything is always by the book. Start working with returns, repairs and warranty it gets in gray areas where some places (like Brazil) charge almost as much as new price for the repair. This is a piece of equipment they have already paid full tax to import.
To my knowledge we never do anything illegal, but I know many companies which have the product shipped to a border town, so they are obviously picking it up and handling any customs themselves, and I have no doubt that means none at all sometimes.
In the overall scheme it isn't worth it for a company but it still isn't unusual for BITMAIN to pick and choose when they wish to have the invoice state a specific amount.
Tax can make or break a business. Showing the amount exported and receiving those credits is what decides future import taxes and tariffs for others. Look at it this way, people think sharing a netflix account is / was not a big deal. They are streaming that signal anyway. But, when a hundred thousand people share with another hundred thousand that is twice as much traffic, so they need twice the hardware to host that traffic. (It is an analogy, not exact numbers)
In that case, someone is going to pay for it and the company has to decide if they are making enough to sustain the sharing, they have to increase the price of the product to sustain the sharing, they figure out a way to make sharing harder than paying the 8 bucks a month, or they get Big Brother involved to scare people for sharing, or they completely change their way of getting you that product to eliminate the sharing or get another way for you to pay, but somehow - some way someone is paying for the sharing.
Same with music, DVDs, etc, there will be a crackdown because countries will get sick of people manipulating the system and they will start prosecuting individuals and companies on a public stage. Companies just have to play the system, lobby the right people, and they won't be the company their Government decides to make an example of.
We see Little Johny on TV in shackles and cuffs:
Reporter: Mr. Officer what did Little Johny do?
Officer: He cheated on his VAT paperwork and we put people under the jail for such a serious offense. You must pay your tax!
Reporter: That doesn't sound so bad, everyone does it do they not? We have reported on companies doing this for many years, both large and small.
Officer: and he copied a DVD of The Little Mermaid on his computer.
Reporter: Keeeel him! I have the rope! That little MF, SOB##!@
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In my personal opinion, you cannot get mad at the drug dealer because he stops selling you drugs.
You cannot get mad because the boxer you paid to throw the fight last time won't do it for this fight.
I guess you can get mad about it, but you do not say it out loud, much less complain on a public forum. That is a conversation with someone else doing the same thing.
You shouldn't get mad when you marry a prostitute and you find out she is still turning tricks for blow a year later <-- wait that one doesn't quite fit, but I think most get the point.
Seriously, everything gets paid for in some way. IF you happen to wiggle through some fine print and get out of paying thousands of dollars where it was expected it begins to add up. Eventually, someone, somewhere is expecting that money to pay for something.
Where does the money come from to begin with? Taxes.
Who are they going to get the money to replace the missing money from? Taxes.
If the big corporation has to charge more for the product, or the farmer down the street more for their turnips, you are still going to pay more.
In a country like Brazil they have amazing power rates, but they also have 80% import taxes. Amazingly unfair amount it would seem, but, their economy will explain it.
Our prices here in the US have went crazy. You know when you buy certain food items how much it costs now versus 5 years ago, well, maybe that was because some companies have been cheating a bunch of other companies out of billions of dollars, but someone, somewhere is going to pay for it.
Sure there are natural disasters, but guess what, yup taxes and your private money. Insurance, yup, they will pay for it, and then raise everyone's rates.
Besides, the big boys all over the world have to pat each other on the butt and scratch each others backs. They cannot do it for us little guys. It is too much of a risk, right?