Slashdot Mirror
Irish Government May Close Apple's Biggest Tax Loophole
DavidGilbert99 writes "Ireland and its tax system came under some extreme scrutiny earlier this year when it was revealed that Apple funneled billions of dollars of revenue though three subsidiaries based in the country. Thanks to a loophole, none of these subsidiaries were tax-resident in Ireland, meaning they didn't even have to pay Ireland's relatively low 12.5% corporation tax rate. Worryingly for Apple, Ireland's finance minister may now shut this loophole. A measure within a new budget bill (PDF) would disallow Apple's status as a 'stateless' corporate entity for tax purposes. Apple will still be able to select a country like Bermuda as its tax residence, but it's a step in the right direction."
Apple is not the only company doing this. Google does it was well.
actually most fortune 500 companies do something like this. they find loopholes in the american taxes by funneling money through other countries, but the other countries have loopholes going the opposite direction so they dont have to pay taxes there either. facebook last year only had to pay 5% in taxes or something.
Different countries have different ways of appropriating revenue. Take Russia with their relatively low flat tax. It was made possible in a large part because of the State is being funded by oil tax revenues. In the case of Bermuda they have these low taxes for corporation and individual income but the kick is that land taxes are extremely high and they live on tourism revenues so you get taxed for snorkling, renting a hotel, etc. Monaco has the casino profits. Etc.
Google: http://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/europe/concern-about-irish-tax-reflects-disquiet-about-google-1.1559370
M$: http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-microsoft-avoids-taxes-loopholes-irs-2013-1
Exxon-Mobil, the former most valuable company, does even worse than this. According to Exxon-Mobil, they are a Swiss company (for tax purposes) even though they didn't have offices or personnel in Switzerland. In Apple's case, they are an American company; however, their overseas revenue is recognized in Ireland. Under this loophole, they paid no taxes. What isn't shocking is they've done this for decades and no one has complained until this year.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Saudi Aramco, the actual current most valuable company, doesn't pay shit because they basically own the Saudi government, which is a pretty sweet gig if you can get it.
(But no, let's keep pretending that a cellphone manufacturer is the most valuable company in the world because they have the highest market capitalization when you sort everybody on Google Finance.)
Actually, it's the awful commenters that are turning people away. For example, you only had to do a search in the Slashdot Search bar for 'Google Tax' to see half a dozen published stories about Google's tax exploits.
[I]f the portions of government we shut down are so nonessential, why the fuck did we spend money on them in the first place?
What do you do for a living? Could your company survive without you doing your job for a few days? How about a week or a month? Be realistic here -- are you the kind of person who can take vacation without someone else having to do your job to keep everything from falling apart? If not, then do you know people like that?
That's what "non-essential" means. It doesn't mean that the work doesn't ever need to be done. It just means that we can go without it for a short time, like skipping a meal to make sure you can pay rent. Which a lot of furloughed workers may be doing right now, considering how little most civil servants are paid compared to equivalent private sector jobs.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
Actually, it's the awful commenters that are turning people away. For example, you only had to do a search in the Slashdot Search bar for 'Google Tax' to see half a dozen published stories about Google's tax exploits.
Ohh? Let's compare the first 5 hits.
First Google:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/13/06/22/1716232/server-farms-flourish-in-iowa-microsoft-plows-700m-more-into-des-moines - "Google said it would put another $400 million into its facility in Council Bluffs. Why Iowa? Aggressive tax incentives" - mentioned after Microsoft and Facebook
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/05/31/1721232/google-maps-used-to-find-tax-cheats - In Lithuania - Not about Google at all.
http://news.slashdot.org/story/13/05/22/1549218/eric-schmidt-google-will-continue-investing-in-uk-even-if-taxes-raised - sort of
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/13/05/20/2213205/nsa-data-center-the-focus-of-tax-controversy - imagine, the NSA has to pay taxes for their data centers, like Google - so not about Google at all
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/13/05/19/1322225/amazon-google-and-apple-wont-need-to-pay-tax-despite-goverment-threats - all of the big ones
Now Apple:
First this article
http://apple.slashdot.org/story/13/07/02/2150217/apple-powering-nevada-datacenter-with-solar-farm - also pays tax for it
http://apple.slashdot.org/story/13/05/21/0222210/web-of-tax-shelters-saved-apple-billions-inquiry-finds - Sure, Google does the same, but we grill Apple because Google lobbies more.
http://apple.slashdot.org/story/13/01/23/1421200/tech-firms-keep-piles-of-foreign-cash-in-us - Well, that's odd, there is no mention of Apple in the summary nor in TFA, but Google is in there - yet it is found when searching for Apple
http://apple.slashdot.org/story/12/11/04/2226236/apple-pays-only-2-corporate-tax-outside-us - summary quotes almost the full article but the part about other companies, like Google
So lets see: Out of 5, 2 say Google is paying taxes, 1 Google helps find tax cheats, 1 Google is paying little taxes but it's okay, and 1 Google is paying little taxes but would pay more if they were asked.
Out of 5, 1 says Apple pays taxes, 1 about the Irish wanting Apple to pay more taxes (but nobody else it seems), 1 about the US wanting Apple to pay more taxes (but nobody else it seems), 1 about the Brits wanting Apple to pay more taxes (but nobody else it seems), and 1 about how its obviously Apple's fault that everybody else but Apple pays so little taxes.
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.