Will the Pope Declare Google Evil?

theodp writes "In the next few days, Pope Benedict XVI plans to issue his second encyclical, in which he is expected to denounce the use of tax havens as socially unjust and immoral in that they cheat the greater well-being of society. He is also expected to argue that the globalized economic world needs to be regulated. Prime technology companies playing the offshore 'profit laundering' game include Dell, Google, Microsoft, and Sun, who set up subsidiaries in Ireland, where the corporate tax rate is a low 12.5% and no taxes are charged on royalties (e.g. from patents)."

Taxing ? What is 'divine' about taxing ?

[unity100]

Is the current pope rather stuck on ancient church history, at middle ages when church was actually a state ?

does god levy 'taxes' ? taxes are an earthly thing and have no place in religion. or is the pope trying to appease some circles that have done 'charity' for the church ?

hmm

[wwmedia]

im from ireland, and practically every corporation has an office here

the corporate tax is low (12.5%) and income tax is ok as well (20%) tho EU slaps 20% VAT on everything

a lot of countries look enviously lately it seems at ireland and the low-ish taxes here (the country is doing fairly for last decade)

still i wouldnt call this a tax heaven, compared to Dubai lets say

Divine taxing - AKA The Tithe

[IBBoard]

'God' used to levy taxes. They were called tithes [wikipedia.org]. Part of it was religious reasoning, but if I remember my schooling correctly then there was also a degree of taking away some of your worldly possessions so that the church could protect you from their evil influences (since the church members are, of course, stronger in this kind of thing than your normal person).

Hang on, that last bit sounds like something Scientologists and strange cults do - "Here, join us and give up your worldly possessions. No, it's okay, we'll be kind and look after them for you so that you no longer have to burden yourself with them" :D

Re:The pope sucks.

[tomhudson]

Actually, its mild compared to what a lot of us feel.

"denounce the use of tax havens as socially unjust and immoral"

Says the Pope sitting in his tax haven called Vatican City. "Fucking hypocrite" is mild ...

Says the Pope who signed up with the nazis because "he could get in trouble otherwise, and it didn't mean anything." Sig heil my arse! The only reason we can't call him a dirty nazi is because he (probably) takes a bath once in a while, when not figuring out ways to try to maintain respectability while continuing to demand that his priests remain celibate, thus perpetuating holy buggery and child sexual abuse.

We tolerate religion - that doesn't mean we have to accept pronouncements from somebody who's so busy pointing fingers at everyone else in an effort to keep them from looking at the huge pile of wrongs he continues to promote. Hey, how about that "no birth control" policy? Nice way to doom another generation to overpopulation and starvation. And the "no condoms" bit. The Pope is promoting AIDS, herpes, clamydia, etc. How about the whole "virgins are better, they're pure" so its not so bad to rape a woman who's had sex, because she's a slut anyway, since she's not a virgin. Or the "divorce is wrong" so stay with hubby as he beats the shit out of you and the kids.

The pope is a fucktard.

Its all about money and power, same as always. Look up Banco Ambrosio Pope Murder