Which claims? That Italy has a lot to offer that other countries don't? Or that the politicians are by and large incompetent? Or that it's a terrible place to do business?
> I have worked with American, British and German people and I have often found that Italian people
I have worked with lots of people too, and found that Italians are often quite skilled programmers with good communication skills. Although English is not always a strong spot, the underlying ability to easily communicate and deal with other people is usually quite strong. Italians don't take home a lot of money compared to other countries, so with lower taxes, their wages could easily be quickly bid up by foreign companies taking advantage of highly skilled labor at competitive prices.
> While the Google tax maybe illegal it's extremely unfair that big companies have legal means to avoid the standard tax regulations that are in place in a given county
As Renzi said, this is something to be dealt with at a European/International level. Not with some stupid, ineffective law that merely makes Italy look bad, and does next to nothing to Google, merely passing on extra costs to Italian companies.
> This is simply unfair competition as much as China can compete unfairly in some sectors and industries.
There are probably some things where Chinese competition is genuinely 'unfair', but that's a pretty huge topic, and a lot of their advantage has been low labor costs. So, unfair in the same sense that Italy has an unfair advantage over Finland in producing quality wine...
> How can an Italian company compete on the same grounds with another one if the spread on taxes is more than 35%?
Answer: they can't. That's part of the reason the economy has stagnated over the past 20 years. But that's not China's fault, nor Google's fault.
The good news is that it is a solvable problem, and indeed, the basic recipe is pretty well known at this point. People just have to get their courage up and do it.
> As an Italian I feel insulted by such claims.
Which claims? That Italy has a lot to offer that other countries don't? Or that the politicians are by and large incompetent? Or that it's a terrible place to do business?
http://doingbusiness.org/rankings - look at where Italy is there.
> I have worked with American, British and German people and I have often found that Italian people
I have worked with lots of people too, and found that Italians are often quite skilled programmers with good communication skills. Although English is not always a strong spot, the underlying ability to easily communicate and deal with other people is usually quite strong. Italians don't take home a lot of money compared to other countries, so with lower taxes, their wages could easily be quickly bid up by foreign companies taking advantage of highly skilled labor at competitive prices.
> While the Google tax maybe illegal it's extremely unfair that big companies have legal means to avoid the standard tax regulations that are in place in a given county
As Renzi said, this is something to be dealt with at a European/International level. Not with some stupid, ineffective law that merely makes Italy look bad, and does next to nothing to Google, merely passing on extra costs to Italian companies.
> This is simply unfair competition as much as China can compete unfairly in some sectors and industries.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_advantage
There are probably some things where Chinese competition is genuinely 'unfair', but that's a pretty huge topic, and a lot of their advantage has been low labor costs. So, unfair in the same sense that Italy has an unfair advantage over Finland in producing quality wine...
> How can an Italian company compete on the same grounds with another one if the spread on taxes is more than 35%?
Answer: they can't. That's part of the reason the economy has stagnated over the past 20 years. But that's not China's fault, nor Google's fault.
The good news is that it is a solvable problem, and indeed, the basic recipe is pretty well known at this point. People just have to get their courage up and do it.
http://www.corriere.it/editoriali/14_febbraio_21/purche-si-d...
http://www.amazon.com/Good-Italy-Bad-Conquer-Demons/dp/03001...