Question
FACTS: Internet giant Zoidle, a U.S. company, generated sales of 2.5 billion in the United Kingdom in 2013 (approximately $4 billion in U.S. dollars). Its
FACTS: Internet giant Zoidle, a U.S. company, generated sales of 2.5 billion in the United Kingdom in 2013 (approximately $4 billion in U.S. dollars). Its net profits before taxes on these sales were 200 million, and it paid 6 million in corporate tax, resulting in a tax rate of 3 percent. The corporate tax rate in the United Kingdom is between 20 percent and 24 percent.
The CEO of Zoidle held a press conference stating that he was proud of his company for taking advantage of tax loopholes and for sheltering profits in other nations to avoid paying taxes. He called this practice "capitalism at its finest". He further stated that it would be unethical for Zoidle not to take advantage of loopholes and that it would be verging on illegal to tell shareholders that the company paid more taxes than it had to pay because it felt that it should.
Zoidle receives significant benefits for doing business in the United Kingdom, including tremendous sales tax exemptions and some property tax breaks. The United Kingdom relies on the corporate income tax to provide services to the poor and to help run the agency that regulates corporations.
ISSUE: Is it unethical for internet giant Zoidle to avoid paying taxes through tax loopholes?
LAW: The moral minimum is a standard or principle upheld as indispensable for moral conduct, whether within a particular context or in general. The specific rule that one should do no intentional harm, often considered the bare minimum required for ethical behavior.
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