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Apple Should Pay More Tax, Says Co-Founder Wozniak (bbc.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the offshore-bank dept.

mrspoonsi quotes a report from BCC: All companies, including Apple, should pay a 50% tax rate, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has told the BBC. He said he doesn't like the idea that Apple does not pay tax at the same rate he does personally. "I don't like the idea that Apple might be unfair -- not paying taxes the way I do as a person. I do a lot of work, I do a lot of travel and I pay over 50% of anything I make in taxes and I believe that's part of life and you should do it." When asked if Apple should pay that amount, he replied: "Every company in the world should." He said he was never interested in money, unlike his former partner Steve Jobs. "Steve Jobs started Apple Computers for money, that was his big thing and that was extremely important and critical and good." Three years ago the company admitted two of its Irish subsidiaries pay a rate of 2%. It has built up offshore cash reserves of around $200 billion -- beyond the reach of U.S. tax officials. In a CBS '60 Minutes' episode, Apple CEO Steve Cook dismissed as "total political crap" the notion that the tech giant was avoiding taxes. And on a semi-related note, presidential candidate Donald Trump said in January he'd like to make Apple "start building their damn computers and things in this country instead of other countries." He said he would impose a 35% business tax on American business manufacturing outside of the U.S if elected president.

7 of 240 comments (clear)

  1. Apple is but one symptom by supernova87a · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Congress, collectively, should get off its ass (which is being incentivized to do nothing by corporate money), and reform the tax codes with a renewed and vigorous sense of public duty. Public duty to the country, people, and public good -- not their select few lobbied corporations who don't represent the majority of companies and people who are willing to pay their taxes fairly and fully if they can see that others are doing the same.

    And stop picking on Apple. Though I'm no fanboy, Apple is just one symptom of the problem. Punishing Apple isn't going to fix the 10,000 other companies that do what they do. Reform the system in general, not prune/pluck at 1-2 examples.

    I would bet that in closed doors, CEOs of many companies would tell Congress to fix the damn system and make us pay more tax, if everyone were forced to follow the same rules. Stop the leakage and loopholes that are benefitting only those who are rich enough to afford the lawyers and accountants who are smart at shifting money around...

  2. Something is wrong here... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 4, Informative

    If the Woz is paying 50% in taxes, he's doing his finances wrong. Earned income is taxed at the highest rate. Portfolio and passive income is taxed a lower rate. He needs to convert his earned income into portfolio and/or passive income. The less earned income he has, the less in taxes he will pay.

  3. Businesses don't really pay taxes by reboot246 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    All they do is pass along the cost of the taxes they're paying to the consumer. In the end, all taxes are paid by individuals, whether directly or hidden in the cost of the products and services they buy.

    Do you actually think that Apple wouldn't simply raise their prices so that their profit margin stayed the same? In what world?

    1. Re:Businesses don't really pay taxes by careysub · · Score: 5, Interesting

      All they do is pass along the cost of the taxes they're paying to the consumer. In the end, all taxes are paid by individuals, whether directly or hidden in the cost of the products and services they buy.

      Not so. Here is what Conservative economist Bruce Bartlett (senior policy roles under Reagan and GHW Bush, and served on the staffs of Reps. Jack Kemp and Ron Paul) has to say about corporate income taxes, and who pays them, ultimately:

      For many years, economists assumed that the corporate tax is paid almost entirely by shareholders. This is unquestionably true when a corporate income tax is first introduced. But over time, corporations adjust their affairs so as to minimize the tax, causing the burden to be shifted. For example, companies may try to raise prices to compensate for the corporate income tax, thus shifting some of the burden onto consumers.

      Most economists don’t believe that much, if any, of the corporate tax is shifted onto consumers this way, because corporations face competition from noncorporate businesses, such as sole proprietorships and partnerships, and from businesses based in countries with higher or lower corporate taxes. Competition sets prices for goods and services without regard to the corporate tax rate.

      Now it is true individuals eventually pay the tax, but it is not consumers, it is owners of capital - the investors, or perhaps management if their compensation packages are pinched.

      Do you actually think that Apple wouldn't simply raise their prices so that their profit margin stayed the same? In what world?

      Do you believe that Apple is not already charging what they think the market will bear? In what world? Even Apple products cannot become arbitrarily expensive.

      --
      Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj
  4. No company should pay more taxes than required. by frnic · · Score: 4, Insightful

    But, that is the problem - 34,000 pages of tax code specifically lead to all the issues. We need a tax code that has no social engineering and no exemptions.

    If the government wants to encourage development of Solar Cells, they should grant money to that industry as a separate bill - all by itself.

    The Tax system should not be polluted with all the 34,000 pages of BS.

    We can debate all you want about progressive vs flat vs whatever, but if it can't be describe on one 8 1/2 x 11 hand written paper, then it is too complex.

  5. Re: TRUMP 2016 by slasher999 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This is exactly correct. Once we take care of our own we are happy to help others. With an unemployment rate of anything greater than zero some could argue we still have work to do to in our own backyard before we lend a hand to the neighbors.

    Today this called "racism". Which is rediculous. It's nothing like racism, it's simply the right thing to do. Slashdot has never come across as "racist". It does continue to surprise me how the comments tend to lean more conservative. I think this reflects the age, maturity and perhaps wisdom of a well developed population of readers, like myself, who have been here many years now.

  6. Re:Hmm, a 50% tax by guises · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Obviously it's a tax on profits and, as such, has no influence on the solvency of the company. The only negative impacts are on cash reserves and on dividends to shareholders.

    For your other stuff: "The tax rate" (total tax revenue) in the US is not high, it is 59th among countries worldwide and almost at the bottom among first world countries - only South Korea and Australia are lower and neither are much lower. There's a big difference in how that tax burden is distributed though, with the middle class in the US taking most of it. This leads to a perception of high taxes.

    It is true that companies which have the ability (large companies) will exploit tax loopholes wherever they can, at the expense of smaller companies and other tax payers (the aforementioned middle class). Numerous efforts have been made to close those loopholes but they, like everything else, do not get past congress. This suggestion of a 50% tax is basically just another one of those - like many of the other such suggestions, it could be crafted in a way which would prevent companies from dodging it but the real challenge would be in getting congress to pass it.