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How Apple Sidesteps Billions In Global Taxes
An anonymous reader writes "An article at the NY Times explains the how the most profitable tech company in the world becomes even more profitable by finding ways to avoid or minimize taxes. Quoting: 'Apple's headquarters are in Cupertino, Calif. By putting an office in Reno, just 200 miles away, to collect and invest the company's profits, Apple sidesteps state income taxes on some of those gains. California's corporate tax rate is 8.84 percent. Nevada's? Zero. ... As it has in Nevada, Apple has created subsidiaries in low-tax places like Ireland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and the British Virgin Islands — some little more than a letterbox or an anonymous office — that help cut the taxes it pays around the world. ... Without such tactics, Apple's federal tax bill in the United States most likely would have been $2.4 billion higher last year, according to a recent study (PDF) by a former Treasury Department economist, Martin A. Sullivan. As it stands, the company paid cash taxes of $3.3 billion around the world on its reported profits of $34.2 billion last year, a tax rate of 9.8 percent."
Why should anyone have to pay more tax than they're required to by law?
Not the question at hand, but a fine Straw man all the same.
Do you actually believe it is morally OK for corporations to seek loopholes to escape what is otherwise their fair-share responsibility to the country that provides the framework for their existence? If there was no America there would be no Apple. Every dollar cheated from the Government (read: you and me) is one less dollar less that can be invested in the public infrastructure (the thing that once made America great).
So please just answer the question: why does Apple hate America?
As long as they're doing it legally, there's nothing wrong with playing the game by the game's rules.
So exploits are ok? From what I garner, exploits are wrong unless its Apple and the opinion comes from a fanboi. No 'reason', just feelings.
Legal !=right. And you already know that, but doubletalked anyway...
Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit.
All that's happening is that the mega-corporation has found a sneaky way to avoid paying its rightful dues.
The solution should be pro-active.
If you want to dodge taxes by basing your company outside the country, then your taxes will be worked out by our tax agents, and you will get a bill sent to your international headquarters. Pay it, and your product is allowed into the country. Don't pay it, then fuck you; you don't get to have access to 300 million potential customers. This practice should be enforced by all nations.
Any nation which fails to agree to control its corporate livestock gets put on the shit list, embargoed and fucking bombed if necessary.
The elite need to be held accountable. Why? Because I don't want to live in a psychopathic dung-heap world just because the mega-rich take all the money and refuse to pay their dues at the end of the day.
Their freedom allowed them to make billions. Freedom ain't free, as they say. You pay for it with your fucking taxes.
This is nonsense. Why shouldn't profitable companies be able to benefit from government programs and subsidies?
Those programs exist because the government wants to develop new technologies, invest in specific sectors, or create a new economical hub in a certain area. The only thing that matters is whether the company will be able to succeed on their project or not, and a profitable company is more likely to.