In Praise of Apple's Low Taxes

[Dugdale_Jukes]

Do you have an accountant? If so, why?

Because corporations working through lobbyists have bought enough federal influence to make American tax codes byzantine labyrinths filled with gordian knots. In a decent country no law would be too complex for the average citizen to understand, and all law would be across the board rather than targeted to specific sectors or constituents through opaque legal veils.

The amount of money decent people spend on cultural parasites in finance and law is as much of a crime against the citizens of the United States as the sale of influence to lobbyists.

As many have observed, the real crime in America today is what is legal.


The law is the law. If Apple has done nothing illegal, there it is. All honest people can agree not all laws are good laws.

That doesn't answer my question.

Do you have an accountant? If so, why?

Actually this

Because corporations working through lobbyists have bought enough federal influence to make American tax codes byzantine labyrinths filled with gordian knots.
​

did answer your question, although the "yes" isn't literally there which appears to confuse victims of modern public education.

It doesn't answer my question, because it's not a direct answer in relation to the question. On a test, even if you answer a question on an answer sheet, if you don't directly answer the question, you get the question wrong. Even victims of a modern public school education can understand this.

Now again, do you use an accountant to file your taxes? If so, why?

Like a bad statistician you attempt to direct my answer to your desired result.
That is not going to happen.
You have my answer.

I don't require any result but a yes or a no. But I already know what the answer to the question is by your refusal to answer. In which case, you are a hypocrite. Shocker...

You had the "yes" on the first post but were too focused on getting a specific response to see how it derived from the way you wrote the question, a fact pointed out to you in the second.

Your lying about not fishing for the answer 95% of people give is, however, not quite as amusing as your claiming my hypocrisy-free posts make me a hypocrite. A lie and a false projection in three stunted sentences. Not bad.

When you learn to play the course instead of the person you'll have a stronger game.

 

[georgephillip]

Absolutely spot on correct.

No it's not.

Apple didn't take it upon itself to act in an ethical manner in relation to tax law.

Quite the opposite. It used it's success to help cobble a system that keeps them from paying their fair share.

What, exactly, is Apple's fair share?

That depends a lot on your definition of a fair society and the role government should play in guaranteeing principles like equality with respect to our basic needs; merit or equity with respect to our talents, achievements, and efforts; and reciprocity or a natural desire to contribute proportionally in return for the collective benefits we derive from our culture.

Since Apple sells its products to US consumers, depends on US courts for its very existence and DC lobbyists to achieve its current status as a stateless corporation making tens of billions of dollars and paying a relative pittance in taxes anywhere, it seems only fair Apple and other corporate entities and the Wall Street Whores who were responsible for causing the financial meltdown that produced the Great Recession should underwrite the collective efforts required to get out of it.

New Deal 2.0 paid for by those whose commitment to fairness nearly crashed the global economy in 2008 and have depended on government entitlements to increase their wealth since the "end" of the latest meltdown of finance capitalism.

 

[oldfart]

This is hysterical nonsense and completely ignores that each country in which a company does business has an army of tax collectors to get as much as they can.

First let me congratulate you on getting your talking points from some skillful apologist for multinational corporations. Or did you learn all this at the Peterson Institute?
Yes, this is an insulting ad hominem, but then again you did lead off by characterizing a highly defensible position held by probably a majority of international trade and taxation economists as "hysterical nonsense". Are you capable of discussing this issue using facts and reasoning, or do you just parrot corporate tripe and call people who disagree with you names?

For the record, most nations have an international tax policy that rather than trying to maximize tax revenue, tries to maximize foreign investment. Of course you either knew this and chose to lie or you didn't and don't know what you are talking about. Take your pick; I vote for both.

Tax treaties exist between countries in order to deal with the double taxation issue. (The lunacy in the U.S. right now is insisting on double taxation - taxing income earned in other tax jurisdictions). Transfer pricing is done for an operation to take on its share of the company's cost structure. If development is done in the U.S. for a product that is sold around the world, the international sales pay a royalty (transfer price) for their share of that expense base.

Ah, the transfer pricing issue. Transfer pricing deals with the efforts to classify corporate profits in one country as opposed to another. Apple. for example, was able to use inconsistent accounting practices so that $30 billion of profit WAS NOT TAXED BY ANY COUNTRY. Presumably the negotiations for coordinated audits of multinational corporations will put an end to this, but since companies like Apple are lobbying hard to prevent this and are threatening all nations involved (especially the smaller and weaker ones) with pulling out, the major nations may just pitch the entire system and revert to taxing corporations on sales at source rather than earnings. Wouldn't that be nice for Apple?

There are also variants for the nature of the business entity (marketing or liaison office, which are generally handled on a cost plus basis up to full subsidiaries, which recognize revenue and pay royalties or full transfer pricing).

Zug Switzerland is the corporate capital of the planet. Since you are so informed you should let the other posters in on the secret and tell them why (assuming you know).

Countries, such as Ireland, use low tax rates to encourage business to locate there.

The article you are panning dealt with this pretty well. Unfortunate that you didn't bother to read it. Do you want to discuss how the strategy on the part of Ireland has ruined their economy?

You Total Economic Illiterates With Severe Cognitive Dissonance persist in the idea that taxes don't affect behavior. Yet you favor taxes on cigarettes to discourage smoking and high gas taxes to discourage gas guzzlers. Well, what do you think high taxes on business are supposed to accomplish?

Oh my, proof by insult again. BTW, where did you study international economics? Or is transfer pricing just a catch phrase you picked up?

 

[Wacky Quacky]

Hey you corporation lovers. IF Apple gave their lobbyists enough money to influence Congress to the point where, instead of Apple paying taxes to the US Treasury, the US Treasury had to pay Apple 5 billion dollars, would that be a good thing and OK with you all?

I mean, Apple could go to China. Wait a minute, Apple is IN China. Wouldn't it be great to have millions and millions to spend on lobbyists to make things happen just for YOU? Like Apple and other major corporation do?

BTW don't buy Apples' product if you don't like Apple. Only apples I own are on the kitchen counter.

Of course not. But here's the problem, those politicians in congress who passed that law would most likely get reelected.

You see, in my world of common sense, when a politician passes a horrible law they should get thrown out. But in america, they get reelected because they poll well against the opposition.

Everyone who voted for the Partiot Act should have gotten thrown out.
Everyone who voted to go to war with Iraq should have gotten thrown out.
Everyone who voted for the ACA should have gotten thrown out.

But no, party politics is more important than holding politicans accountable for their actions. I'm laughing my ass off at democrats right now. You guys keep voting in the dipshits who wrote our piece of shit tax code, now you're mad? Here's an idea, STOP VOTING FOR THEM!

And republicans are no different. They bitch and moan about 47% not paying taxes, while continuously voting for the same people who maintain it.

Holy shit americans are dumb!

 

[Darkwind]

Bill Black has spent decades studying white collar crime:

"William Kurt Black (born September 6, 1951) is an American lawyer, academic, author, and a former bank regulator.[1] Black's expertise is in white-collar crime, public finance, regulation, and other topics in law and economics. He developed the concept of 'control fraud', in which a business or national executive uses the entity he or she controls as a "weapon" to commit fraud."

He's makes the case in this recent interview that Apple and its Irish shell are felony violations of US tax laws:

"JAY: Go back to the Apple case. How do they get the money into their U.S. bank accounts and then don't have to pay tax on it? And how do they call it--claim that it's in Ireland if it's sitting here?
BLACK: Okay. So here the series of things. First, Ireland deliberately became a tax haven as a strategy about 20-plus years ago when it reduced its corporate tax rate to half the regular corporate tax rate in Europe. So that's the beginning of the story. And a lot of U.S. corporations in particular go to Ireland.

"Now, the second part of the story is a key scam which is not being treated as unlawful, even though it should be treated as unlawful and people should be punished for felonies for doing it. And this goes by the arcane name of transfer pricing. And what transfer pricing means is I jiggle the accounting to make it appear that the vast bulk of the
earnings occurred in the nation with the lowest tax rate, which of course is back to Ireland.

"Now, this is easier in the context of high-tech companies, because the earnings, of course, you know, not that much of the cost is attributable to the glass and the electronics; it's mostly the marketing and the technology, the intellectual property. And so you assign virtually all the profits to the intellectual property component.

"JAY: And then you assign the rights to the intellectual property to your shell in Ireland.
BLACK: That's correct. You create a shell, except that the shell isn't really in Ireland, necessarily. It's of course actually run out of the United States. But to the Irish, they're told that that is a U.S. entity, and the Irish corporate tax is not assessed on earnings of U.S. entities that are not located in Ireland."

Imagine that. A socialist with a study using cherry-picked information, creates a false premise, and then runs with it.

Did you ask how much money this "Black" made on his little dissertation?

 

[Darkwind]

Hey you corporation lovers. IF Apple gave their lobbyists enough money to influence Congress to the point where, instead of Apple paying taxes to the US Treasury, the US Treasury had to pay Apple 5 billion dollars, would that be a good thing and OK with you all?

I mean, Apple could go to China. Wait a minute, Apple is IN China. Wouldn't it be great to have millions and millions to spend on lobbyists to make things happen just for YOU? Like Apple and other major corporation do?

BTW don't buy Apples' product if you don't like Apple. Only apples I own are on the kitchen counter.

You mean like the Unions currently do? Seems to Me that the Auto Unions sure raked it in hand over fist from the Obama. I guess it does pay to have politicians in your back pocket, doesn't it?

 

[Darkwind]

Bill Black has spent decades studying white collar crime:

"William Kurt Black (born September 6, 1951) is an American lawyer, academic, author, and a former bank regulator.[1] Black's expertise is in white-collar crime, public finance, regulation, and other topics in law and economics. He developed the concept of 'control fraud', in which a business or national executive uses the entity he or she controls as a "weapon" to commit fraud."

He's makes the case in this recent interview that Apple and its Irish shell are felony violations of US tax laws:

"JAY: Go back to the Apple case. How do they get the money into their U.S. bank accounts and then don't have to pay tax on it? And how do they call it--claim that it's in Ireland if it's sitting here?
BLACK: Okay. So here the series of things. First, Ireland deliberately became a tax haven as a strategy about 20-plus years ago when it reduced its corporate tax rate to half the regular corporate tax rate in Europe. So that's the beginning of the story. And a lot of U.S. corporations in particular go to Ireland.

"Now, the second part of the story is a key scam which is not being treated as unlawful, even though it should be treated as unlawful and people should be punished for felonies for doing it. And this goes by the arcane name of transfer pricing. And what transfer pricing means is I jiggle the accounting to make it appear that the vast bulk of the
earnings occurred in the nation with the lowest tax rate, which of course is back to Ireland.

"Now, this is easier in the context of high-tech companies, because the earnings, of course, you know, not that much of the cost is attributable to the glass and the electronics; it's mostly the marketing and the technology, the intellectual property. And so you assign virtually all the profits to the intellectual property component.

"JAY: And then you assign the rights to the intellectual property to your shell in Ireland.
BLACK: That's correct. You create a shell, except that the shell isn't really in Ireland, necessarily. It's of course actually run out of the United States. But to the Irish, they're told that that is a U.S. entity, and the Irish corporate tax is not assessed on earnings of U.S. entities that are not located in Ireland."

This is hysterical nonsense and completely ignores that each country in which a company does business has an army of tax collectors to get as much as they can.

Tax treaties exist between countries in order to deal with the double taxation issue. (The lunacy in the U.S. right now is insisting on double taxation - taxing income earned in other tax jurisdictions). Transfer pricing is done for an operation to take on its share of the company's cost structure. If development is done in the U.S. for a product that is sold around the world, the international sales pay a royalty (transfer price) for their share of that expense base.

There are also variants for the nature of the business entity (marketing or liaison office, which are generally handled on a cost plus basis up to full subsidiaries, which recognize revenue and pay royalties or full transfer pricing).

Countries, such as Ireland, use low tax rates to encourage business to locate there. Quelle surprise! We see Texas, Utah and other low tax states doing the very same thing in the U.S. today. Is it TAX AVOIDANCE for Google to have an office in Texas instead of locating employees in CA?

You Total Economic Illiterates With Severe Cognitive Dissonance persist in the idea that taxes don't affect behavior. Yet you favor taxes on cigarettes to discourage smoking and high gas taxes to discourage gas guzzlers. Well, what do you think high taxes on business are supposed to accomplish?

While Corporate Sluts Who Swallow Every Wall Street Load Twice (that would be You) never quite make the existential connection that corporations, whether they manufacture cigarettes, or gasoline or computers, do not even exist without a governmental charter.

This process has taken place entirely through the courts; no US voter ever had an opportunity to cast a vote regarding corporate citizenship.

Hence corporate citizens should be required to pay for the entire cost of operating courts in all countries they sell their products in; think that might affect corporate behavior?

Think the 1% might have to alter their rich-bitch lifestyles, Leona?

Wow.

I say we should have a vote to determine individual citizenship too! We can start with you. You government whores who enjoy your slave play and chains should really take it into a bedroom out of the sight of children.

 

[Mertex]

By Edward Hudgins

May 24, 2013 -- Apple Inc. is under attack by politicians for “avoiding” paying $44 billion in American corporate taxes.

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich) complained about tax “gimmicks” and Apple’s “unfair behavior,” saying “loopholes in our tax laws and regulations allow many companies … to shift enormous amounts of income from this country to other countries.” Making the whining bipartisan, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) complained that Apple “is one of the largest corporate tax avoiders.”


So let’s praise Apple both for being one of the world’s most productive companies and for keeping its tax bill low. And let’s condemn politicians who try to cripple the productive while demanding that the productive turn over more of the fruits of their productive efforts to politicians to be wasted.

Oh sure, let's praise Apple for being so clever and coming up with scheme to rob the United States of revenue. Apple doesn't mind using all the things that our tax money provides, but why should they contribute when Republican/conservatives want to give them a free ride. They may think Apple is clever, but they are ignorant, because they are allowing Apple to rob them, too.

Those that want to provide Apple a free ride should come up with the money that would have been paid by Apple if they had been honest and used the tax laws properly.

Corporations make use of a workforce educated in public schools that are paid for with tax dollars. They use roads and highways paid for with tax dollars. They use water, sewer, power, and communications rights of way paid for and maintained with taxes. They demand the same protection from fire and police departments as everybody else, and they enjoy the benefits of national sovereignty and the stability provided by the military and institutions like the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the same as all residents of democratic nations.
Thom Hartmann | Nobles Need Not Pay Taxes

 

[Darkwind]

By Edward Hudgins

May 24, 2013 -- Apple Inc. is under attack by politicians for “avoiding” paying $44 billion in American corporate taxes.

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich) complained about tax “gimmicks” and Apple’s “unfair behavior,” saying “loopholes in our tax laws and regulations allow many companies … to shift enormous amounts of income from this country to other countries.” Making the whining bipartisan, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) complained that Apple “is one of the largest corporate tax avoiders.”


So let’s praise Apple both for being one of the world’s most productive companies and for keeping its tax bill low. And let’s condemn politicians who try to cripple the productive while demanding that the productive turn over more of the fruits of their productive efforts to politicians to be wasted.

Oh sure, let's praise Apple for being so clever and coming up with scheme to rob the United States of revenue. Apple doesn't mind using all the things that our tax money provides, but why should they contribute when Republican/conservatives want to give them a free ride. They may think Apple is clever, but they are ignorant, because they are allowing Apple to rob them, too.

Those that want to provide Apple a free ride should come up with the money that would have been paid by Apple if they had been honest and used the tax laws properly.

Corporations make use of a workforce educated in public schools that are paid for with tax dollars. They use roads and highways paid for with tax dollars. They use water, sewer, power, and communications rights of way paid for and maintained with taxes. They demand the same protection from fire and police departments as everybody else, and they enjoy the benefits of national sovereignty and the stability provided by the military and institutions like the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the same as all residents of democratic nations.
Thom Hartmann | Nobles Need Not Pay Taxes

Do you even know how taxes work?

Apple cannot 'rob' the US of anything. Apple has broken no law.

 

[The2ndAmendment]

I have nothing but disdain for Apple's tax evasion.

Who wrote the laws that made it legal for them and thousands of others companions to "evade" on their taxes?

Why don't you just donate more money to the government while you're at it, the debt is strong.

 

[Politico]

Hilarious. What a bunch of hypocrites. Any one of you would do exactly the same thing.

 

[Political Junky]

It would be ideal if no one paid taxes .. just let the country fall apart.

 

[georgephillip]

Hey you corporation lovers. IF Apple gave their lobbyists enough money to influence Congress to the point where, instead of Apple paying taxes to the US Treasury, the US Treasury had to pay Apple 5 billion dollars, would that be a good thing and OK with you all?

I mean, Apple could go to China. Wait a minute, Apple is IN China. Wouldn't it be great to have millions and millions to spend on lobbyists to make things happen just for YOU? Like Apple and other major corporation do?

BTW don't buy Apples' product if you don't like Apple. Only apples I own are on the kitchen counter.

Of course not. But here's the problem, those politicians in congress who passed that law would most likely get reelected.

You see, in my world of common sense, when a politician passes a horrible law they should get thrown out. But in america, they get reelected because they poll well against the opposition.

Everyone who voted for the Partiot Act should have gotten thrown out.
Everyone who voted to go to war with Iraq should have gotten thrown out.
Everyone who voted for the ACA should have gotten thrown out.

But no, party politics is more important than holding politicans accountable for their actions. I'm laughing my ass off at democrats right now. You guys keep voting in the dipshits who wrote our piece of shit tax code, now you're mad? Here's an idea, STOP VOTING FOR THEM!

And republicans are no different. They bitch and moan about 47% not paying taxes, while continuously voting for the same people who maintain it.

Holy shit americans are dumb!

Very little Change or Hope will happen in the US if millions of US voters continue "choosing" between Republican OR Democrat in the voting booth.

There are third party candidates already appearing on most ballots.
Democrats have a Green option.
Republicans might consider the Constitution Party.
Voters addicted to either corporate party have Libertarian and Americans Elect options.

The Internet makes it possible to organize a bipartisan enema that would literally FLUSH dozens or even hundreds of incumbents, Rs & Ds alike, from DC in a single news cycle.

Starting in November of 2014...

 

[zeke]

Hey you corporation lovers. IF Apple gave their lobbyists enough money to influence Congress to the point where, instead of Apple paying taxes to the US Treasury, the US Treasury had to pay Apple 5 billion dollars, would that be a good thing and OK with you all?

I mean, Apple could go to China. Wait a minute, Apple is IN China. Wouldn't it be great to have millions and millions to spend on lobbyists to make things happen just for YOU? Like Apple and other major corporation do?

BTW don't buy Apples' product if you don't like Apple. Only apples I own are on the kitchen counter.

You mean like the Unions currently do? Seems to Me that the Auto Unions sure raked it in hand over fist from the Obama. I guess it does pay to have politicians in your back pocket, doesn't it?

Why in the hell would unions be spending million of dollars on lobbying efforts to keep Apple from having to pay US Corporate taxes?

Or are you trying to say that unions make billions of dollars in profits and pay no taxes on the profit? If that is the case, what is the name of their corporation? Here I thought unions were the representative arm of labor. You know laborers don't you?

But I guess from your answer to my question? (if that was what it was) that you are aok with the idea of, instead of corporations paying taxes to the Treasury, that the Treasurty should pay money to the corporation.

Thats weird as shit and makes no sense.

Why am I not surprised.

 

[georgephillip]

Bill Black has spent decades studying white collar crime:

"William Kurt Black (born September 6, 1951) is an American lawyer, academic, author, and a former bank regulator.[1] Black's expertise is in white-collar crime, public finance, regulation, and other topics in law and economics. He developed the concept of 'control fraud', in which a business or national executive uses the entity he or she controls as a "weapon" to commit fraud."

He's makes the case in this recent interview that Apple and its Irish shell are felony violations of US tax laws:

"JAY: Go back to the Apple case. How do they get the money into their U.S. bank accounts and then don't have to pay tax on it? And how do they call it--claim that it's in Ireland if it's sitting here?
BLACK: Okay. So here the series of things. First, Ireland deliberately became a tax haven as a strategy about 20-plus years ago when it reduced its corporate tax rate to half the regular corporate tax rate in Europe. So that's the beginning of the story. And a lot of U.S. corporations in particular go to Ireland.

"Now, the second part of the story is a key scam which is not being treated as unlawful, even though it should be treated as unlawful and people should be punished for felonies for doing it. And this goes by the arcane name of transfer pricing. And what transfer pricing means is I jiggle the accounting to make it appear that the vast bulk of the
earnings occurred in the nation with the lowest tax rate, which of course is back to Ireland.

"Now, this is easier in the context of high-tech companies, because the earnings, of course, you know, not that much of the cost is attributable to the glass and the electronics; it's mostly the marketing and the technology, the intellectual property. And so you assign virtually all the profits to the intellectual property component.

"JAY: And then you assign the rights to the intellectual property to your shell in Ireland.
BLACK: That's correct. You create a shell, except that the shell isn't really in Ireland, necessarily. It's of course actually run out of the United States. But to the Irish, they're told that that is a U.S. entity, and the Irish corporate tax is not assessed on earnings of U.S. entities that are not located in Ireland."

Imagine that. A socialist with a study using cherry-picked information, creates a false premise, and then runs with it.

Did you ask how much money this "Black" made on his little dissertation?

Point out Black's "false premise" in his case against Apple.

I'm not sure if Bill's a Socialist or if he's paid for his regular appearances on the Real News Network; however, even if he is, it is much less than the "Keating Five" Capitalists cost the US taxpayer subsequent to the Savings and Loan Looting of the 1980s:

"Savings and Loan Scandal

"Black was a central figure in exposing Congressional corruption during the Savings and Loan Crisis. He took the notes during the Keating Five meeting that were later published in the press, and brought the event to national attention and a congressional investigation.

"According to Bill Moyers,

"The former Director of the Institute for Fraud Prevention now teaches Economics and Law at the University of Missouri, Kansas City.

"During the savings and loan crisis, it was Black who accused then-house speaker Jim Wright and five US Senators, including John Glenn and John McCain, of doing favors for the S&L's in exchange for contributions and other perks.

"The senators got off with a slap on the wrist, but so enraged was one of those bankers, Charles Keating — after whom the senate's so-called 'Keating Five' were named — he sent a memo that read, in part, "get Black — kill him dead."

"'Metaphorically, of course.'

"Of course."[4]

"The Real News Network appearances

"Black has appeared many times on The Real News Network from 2008 to date, providing insights and analysis into the corporate looting/ plundering of the United States' and global economies."

William K. Black - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[zeke]

I have nothing but disdain for Apple's tax evasion.

Who wrote the laws that made it legal for them and thousands of others companions to "evade" on their taxes?
Why don't you just donate more money to the government while you're at it, the debt is strong.

Do you really not know the answer to your question? Let me help. The ones that write the tax laws to favor the corporations would be our wonderful representatives in Congress.

They write those corporate favorable tax laws right after the corporation lobbyists "give" millions of dollars to the re election efforts of the very Congresspeople who write the tax law.

Isn't that convenient? Don't you wish you had millions of dollars to spend on lobbying efforts for you?

Hope that helps you understand who writes tax law in this country. That would be Congress and Corporation Lobbyists.

 

[Mertex]

By Edward Hudgins

May 24, 2013 -- Apple Inc. is under attack by politicians for “avoiding” paying $44 billion in American corporate taxes.

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich) complained about tax “gimmicks” and Apple’s “unfair behavior,” saying “loopholes in our tax laws and regulations allow many companies … to shift enormous amounts of income from this country to other countries.” Making the whining bipartisan, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) complained that Apple “is one of the largest corporate tax avoiders.”


So let’s praise Apple both for being one of the world’s most productive companies and for keeping its tax bill low. And let’s condemn politicians who try to cripple the productive while demanding that the productive turn over more of the fruits of their productive efforts to politicians to be wasted.

Oh sure, let's praise Apple for being so clever and coming up with scheme to rob the United States of revenue. Apple doesn't mind using all the things that our tax money provides, but why should they contribute when Republican/conservatives want to give them a free ride. They may think Apple is clever, but they are ignorant, because they are allowing Apple to rob them, too.

Those that want to provide Apple a free ride should come up with the money that would have been paid by Apple if they had been honest and used the tax laws properly.

Corporations make use of a workforce educated in public schools that are paid for with tax dollars. They use roads and highways paid for with tax dollars. They use water, sewer, power, and communications rights of way paid for and maintained with taxes. They demand the same protection from fire and police departments as everybody else, and they enjoy the benefits of national sovereignty and the stability provided by the military and institutions like the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the same as all residents of democratic nations.
Thom Hartmann | Nobles Need Not Pay Taxes

Do you even know how taxes work?

Apple cannot 'rob' the US of anything. Apple has broken no law.

Taxes work? What kind of jobs do they hold?

If left up to conservatives, nobody would pay taxes, our roads/highways would all turn to shit, our food would not be inspected for safety and companies could can Salmonella, credit companies could continue to rip us of in the name of "profit", only the rich could afford to get educated.........

Of course Apple didn't break any law, they were just dishonest to create a subsidiary that is bogus. If you think that it is clever to be able to deceive the government and avoid paying your fair share, you must be a conservative.

The technology giant has set up up offices in Nevada, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and the British Virgin Islands to ensure it pays a tax rate of just 9.8 per cent, the New York Times claimed.
Some offices are little more than a postal address or a few desks and some phones, according to former executives who helped plan the the measures.
Apple used legal tactics to avoid paying BILLIONS in taxes last year despite record profits | Mail Online


Oh, and Apple doesn't have any tolerance for dishonesty!

"Apple is committed to the highest ethical standards in the way we do business," said Apple spokesman Steve Dowling in a statement. "We have zero tolerance for dishonest behavior inside or outside the company."
Apple has "zero tolerance for dishonest behavior"... arrests manager for selling trade secrets | MobileSyrup.com

 

[Mertex]

I have nothing but disdain for Apple's tax evasion.

Who wrote the laws that made it legal for them and thousands of others companions to "evade" on their taxes?

The tax code does need to be changed as dishonest companies like Apple are willing to go to the limit in finding ways to avoid paying taxes. But, that only puts the burden on the rest of us. We still have roads that need fixing, bridges that need to be inspected, replaced, fixed, etc., and it requires money. Surely you are not cheerleading the idea that it is okay to use devious methods to avoid paying taxes. Do you cheat on yours? Like claim things that you're clearly not entitled to?

Why don't you just donate more money to the government while you're at it, the debt is strong.

Sure, let those of us who think it is fair to pay our fair share carry the freeloaders who think it is okay to be dishonest. And then Republican/conservatives claim they are the true "Patriots" - my ass.

 

[Vandalshandle]

Apple's tax accountants are only doing their job. However, this entire tax avoidance issue is being exposed, not to demonize Apple, but to dramatize why major, significant changes must be made in the corporate tax code.

 

[Mertex]

Apple's tax accountants are only doing their job. However, this entire tax avoidance issue is being exposed, not to demonize Apple, but to dramatize why major, significant changes must be made in the corporate tax code.

But it will be hard for Congress to do that when people like Rand Paul is in there cheering for Apple and criticizing Congress for bringing it up. If they didn't make Apple's dishonesty obvious to everyone, would anyone even know it was going on? Would anything be done?