The audacity of Apple's "ingenuity"
By louisehartmann
This week, Apple CEO Tim Cook was questioned in a Congressional Hearing about his company's complex scheme to avoid paying taxes. According to Mr. Cook, the company's stash of billions of dollars in overseas shell corporations was not tax dodging – it was ingenuity. And, just in case anyone actually fell for the tech company's creative explanation, Mark Gongloff of the Huffington Post shared an incredible chart, which illustrates exactly how unjust our nation's tax system has really become.
The chart was produced by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, and it shows how the sources of federal revenue have changed over several decades. In 1950, corporations contributed over 30 percent to our nation's revenue, and individual income and payroll taxes made up about 45 percent. But today, corporations only contribute 17 percent, and individuals are paying for over 60 percent of federal revenue.
So, despite all the Republican claims about the U.S. having the world's highest tax rate – corporations are contributing less to our nation than ever before. Yet, corporate executives like Tim Cook have the audacity to say we should be celebrating their “ingenuity.” These companies make the huge profits they have been raking in by using the commons that our tax dollars develop and maintain.
Without roads and bridges, communications systems and utilities, corporations couldn't get their products into the hands of hard-working Americans. They should be paying for the privilege to do business here. American tax payers should not be picking up a larger share of the tab, while corporate executives hold on to an ever-increasing share of the profits. Let's tell companies like Apple that we'll celebrate their ingenuity just as soon as they start paying their fair share.
Comments
#2
To answer DAnneMarc from yesterday re: Northern Route Approval Act. Look what ever they are trying to do, your president will have final say. Obama is in a bad spot here. All the states have approved the pipeline. It is the right thing to do. Moving energy through a pipeline is the safest way to go. But Obama can't approve it for political reasons. The truth is Canada exports 2.6 million barrels per day through pipelines to the US right now through the Express, Enbridge, Plains, Bow River, Trans mountain and othger pipelines. They have been for 60 years. So Keystone is nothing new. Newer better technology maybe. But the same old same old. So why not protest all the current pipelines why just this one. The answer is simple, I just have no nice way to say it so I won't.
Canada as a whole is responsible for about 1.8% of the worlds Green house gases. The oils sands projects for about .15% thats point 15 not 15% of the worlds green house gases it is the cleanest most dependable oil in the world and your president doesn't want it.
So here is the deal Canada is very close to approving a second line to the Transmountain line to the west coast and the Northern Gateway line to Northern west coast and we will just sell it to China instead then they can brag that they use clean enviromentally sound oil from Canada.
Just so you know most of the oil companies up here are American and American companies are all over the world messing up enviroments so please stop the I don't want foreign companies polluting my country crap. It goes both ways.
#3
Companies like Apple that manufacturers are products overseas that have slave labor camps, unpatriotic, companies like Apple that bank overseas to avoid taxes, unpatriotic, members of Congress who support this, unpatriotic. Alexander Hamilton along with Thomas Jefferson and James Madison and many more other framers of this country, would be a shame of these Americans in our time of history who supports the members of Congress, they would believe that these people are not patriots, as they and many of the early Americans with the members of Congress in their time in American history were.
Why are we letting these companies get away with it and putting the burden on the American taxpayer? Why are we letting Congress, the Republican Congress letting these companies take a free ride on the backs of working Americans. I do not know about you, but I want my country back, back before the time of Reaganomics, to return to pre-Reagan. I believe he will go down in history as Reagan the destroyer, the destroyer of the common American working family. Whatever happened to the proud tradition of made in America. Whatever happened of these companies taking pride of their country and what they make here. Is the power of making unbelievable profits for the company and the CEO of these company more important than American working family, what is more important, I asked what is more important.
TRICKLE DOWN ECONOMICS
I found this at
Will Rogers on Doctors, Taxes, Testimony, and Trickle-down Economics
It seems that every Republican President this century who left a trashed economy upon leaving office, starting with Herbert Hoover, believed in “trickle down" economics. Will Rogers explains why, despite its devastating effects on the poor, the GOP may forever be enamored of the concept.
“The money was all appropriated for the top in the hopes that it would trickle down to the needy. Mr. Hoover didn’t know that money trickled up. Give it to the people at the bottom and the people at the top will have it before night, anyhow. But it will at least have passed through the poor fellow’s hands.”
Even Thomas Jefferson knew of this.
Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor.
Thomas Jefferson
You see we tried this before, that Reaganomics did not work in the past it is not work now, I want to return to pre-Reagan, I want my country back.
#4
Louise: " In 1950, corporations contributed over 30 percent to our nation's revenue, and individual income and payroll taxes made up about 45 percent. But today, corporations only contribute 17 percent, and individuals are paying for over 60 percent of federal revenue. "
This is because in 1950 the President of Pepsico became the President of Coca-Cola and no one noticed anything suspicious. Just like few thought it was suspicious that Nixon was lead counsel for Pepsico and left the Bottlers Convention in Dallas hours before The Assassination which motorcade would have taken another route were it not for the Convention.
#2 Makes an excellent comment "Unlike Google, Apple doesn't use Dutch subsidiaries to avoid paying taxes."
Not just Google, but Standard Federal Bank, Shell Oil, Bank of America, American Express, BNY, Bear Stearns, Mellon, Chase, Charles Schwab, oh I'm sick of wasting time listing them....
#5
Agsin, I watched most of Tim Cook's testament yesterday. Apple is to USA, is what Vodafone is to UK.
Both have had to explain their relative tax positions to their host nations's Government. Both seem to say similar by insisting they have not broken any laws. Both agree that they would be prepared to pay more tax if it were necessary to bring overseas earnt profits "home". Problem is the governments concerned also both need more revenue.
Apple rightly says tax reform is necessary, and also that if a sensible change in tax law can be implemented, they will pay. So Thom, why attack a Corporation such as Apple for not paaying taxes? After all, they do pay US taxes on all products purchased/sold or manufactured in US.
#6
Darn right, they'd be breaking the law if they were to not maximize their shareholder's value by taking advantage of every twist and turn of our crooked tax code...that their lobbyists (and others) probably wrote for "our" representatives to vote into law. Like Rand said in his kissApple'sass speech, it's really Congress that's to blame....or maybe us, since we elected 'em.
#7
#8
Off Topic:
'Obama Must be Taken Before ICC for the War on Terror' - Noam Chomsky By RT The US war on terror is in fact the most massive terror campaign ever, and the invasion of Iraq was the worst crime in recent history, prominent liberal thinker Noam Chomsky told RT, adding that he wants to see Bush, Blair and Obama tried at the ICC.http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article35050.htm
Is Chomsky saying that there is no difference between the two? Doesn't he realise that Obama ia a Democrat!
#9
i just wonder who is gone bay even this chep shit made in china when middle clas be gonne ?
#10
The very premise of this article is offensive. It takes the viewpoint that people and their businesses are subservient to the government. You have it completely backward, except for the fact that the intrusiveness of the tax code/system has forced practices driving companies to these lengths in order to preserve profits. (Profits, contrary to liberal ideals, is not illegal...yet)
The same people grilling the Apple Execs on their ‘civic responsibilities' can't seem to attend to theirs; no budget in four years, and no balanced budget in decades.
The same clowns who are spending us into oblivion are complaining about people who actually have budgets and pay all their bills. I would love to see the tables turned.
#11
Too bad canada cannot manage its own oil industry and has to have americans do it for them. The oil is going to china no matter what and they will continue to sell gas for $2.30 per gallon and you canadians can keep paying $5.00 per gallon.
You guys are pretty smart, eh?
#12
The United States will get, at best, less than 40% of the oil. The rest will be exported.
Remember Faust? He had nothing on the big corporations and many of the citizens of this country in being willing to sell off U.S. treasures for oil. Let's dig up the Grand Canyon (some are trying to do tha). Let's mine whatever is in the wilderness Boundary Waters Canoe Area--copper, oil, whatever. We don't care if the pristine (nearly so) waters of that beautiful area are polluted and no one wants to go there anymore (robbing the north country of its sources of income. We don't care if we ruin small, beautiful towns along the Mississippi river in Wisconsin, towns like Stockholm, Maiden Rock, Pepin, if we can make a buck or two--most of which will not ever end up in workers' pockets but in the pockets of the big corporate interests who are trying to mine everything that might dredge up a dollar.
These people do not have souls. They either sold them or they checked in without one,
#13
If you look objectively at the operations of Apple Inc. and other large tech companies, one will realize that the number one capital asset their stockowners own is intangible intellectual property––namely patents. As well, an analysis of the ownership of Apple Inc. and others would reveal that a relative few own the bulk of the company, with the exception that those in the highest employed positions receive stock portfolios as part of the compensation package. Then too there are millions of Americans who have invested their savings to purchase second hand Apple stock on the stock exchanges. But the reality is that the majority of this non-inner circle ownership class' holdings are relatively small in comparison. Also significant, is the fact that the company retains the bulk of the profits and does not pay near the dividend income owed the stockowners.
CEO Tim Cook tries to portray Apple Inc. as a company "bound by lofty ideals, a strong moral compass and a recognition of its impact on the world," yet the company uses slave-labor workers employed by FoxConn in China to build their products, and the vast employed majority outside manufacturing to sell and service their products, all at relatively low-pay compared to the executive class and the scientists and engineers who are encouraged to work to destroy employment by making the capital owners of the company more productive by increasing the stock value of their holdings. How much employment can be destroyed by substituting machines for people is a measure of their success––always focused on producing at the lowest cost. Only the people who already own productive capital are the beneficiaries of their work, as they systematically concentrate more and more capital ownership in their stationary 1 percent ranks.
If Cook wanted to really have a positive impact on the world he would lead his Board of Directors to finance future growth of Apple Inc. using an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) and enable ALL the employees of Apple to become future stock owners and pay for their acquisition out of the tax-free future corporate earnings of the growth investments. Instead the company uses retained earnings financing or debt financing to further concentrate the stock holdings and profits of the existing ownership class, and other measures to "legally" escape paying taxes on the profits generated.
If the United States Congress wanted to shine a spotlight on Apple Inc. as an exemplar of a system that is producing nonsensical results, then there needs to be pressure put on the Senate Finance Committee to write more sensible legislation that avoids the negative tax consequences of encouraging more concentrated ownership of the FUTURE productive capital assets as the purpose of economic growth, and connect EVERY American as an owner so that they can participate in the production of products and services beyond that of declining job opportunities and welfare substance.
Such goals and policies are the subject of my article "The Path To Sustainable Economic Growth" at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gary-reber/sustainable-economic-growth_b_3141721.html and the article entitled "The Solution To America's Economic Decline" at http://www.nationofchange.org/solution-america-s-economic-decline-1367588690
#14
Ptg, Gas is more than $5.00 per gallon here in Canada. We have a 60% tax on it to help pay for our free health care. No we are not smart at all we are doing everything tour current government wants to do.
I do agree change the tax code and keep the money in America. Works great we tax the hell out of those American oil companies.
#15
Quote John Deane:So Thom, why attack a Corporation such as Apple for not paaying taxes?
My I take a shot at that answer? In my opinion, the US Government is attacking Apple because it needs a scapegoat to blame for the gross tax evasion it is allowing to go on by it's Corporate sponsors who own the Government. It cannot bite the hand that feeds it. But it must maintain an illusion of doing it's job. Therefore invite Apple to the altar of sacrifice, look like you are doing your job, and protect your real Corporate Masters.
In the same way the IRS is getting busted for investigating the tax exempt status of right-wing political action groups, the government is simply inforcing the law the way their Corporate Masters want them to. Elliminate the competition and protect the real crooks.
#16
Quote DRichards:'Obama Must be Taken Before ICC for the War on Terror' - Noam Chomsky By RT The US war on terror is in fact the most massive terror campaign ever, and the invasion of Iraq was the worst crime in recent history, prominent liberal thinker Noam Chomsky told RT, adding that he wants to see Bush, Blair and Obama tried at the ICC.
The esteemed Mr. Chomsky is right! President Obama knew he had the obligation to investigate the previous Administration for War Crimes and failed--in two terms. Instead he has continued and expanded the illegal and immoral agenda. They all need a day of reckoning!
#17
Quote Kend:So here is the deal Canada is very close to approving a second line to the Transmountain line to the west coast and the Northern Gateway line to Northern west coast and we will just sell it to China instead then they can brag that they use clean enviromentally sound oil from Canada.
If they know what is good for them they will stay far away from the SF Bay Area. We know how to raise Hell when we want to protest!
#18
"These people .... (corporations???)......don't have souls"?????
Say it ain't so.
#19
Jonathan Toews 3x in the box in just the 1'st period???????
Carbon PPM way up there......Stratospheric?????????????
Say it ain't so.
#20
Quote historywriter:We don't care if we ruin small, beautiful towns along the Mississippi river in Wisconsin, towns like Stockholm, Maiden Rock, Pepin, if we can make a buck or two--most of which will not ever end up in workers' pockets but in the pockets of the big corporate interests who are trying to mine everything that might dredge up a dollar.These people do not have souls. They either sold them or they checked in without one,
Can't argue with that! That's a good one! ;-)
#21
Make Apple pay more tax and sit back and watch what happens. A new fleet of cars would get purchased, a new office complex would go up, pay raises, bigger bonuses, you name it, anything that can be written off as an expense. Everyone wins, the money gets recycled back into our economy instead of stagnation in offshore bank accounts. In my opinion this idea could work on many levels, it provides incentive and motivation for economic expansion.
I expressed this theory in person to my local Republican Assemblyman a few years ago and got a lecture about lazy people in the county collecting Medicaid Services....... it was like talking to a brick wall.
#22
Odd, though, that Apple still appears to have paid more taxes than some of the other big corporations.
Also, Apple's stock plunged with this hearing.
So what is that about?
Could someone make a killing by calling Apple on the carpet?
#23
And just what good is telling Apple that we don't like what their doing. Just as the fact we have passed the point of no return in green house gasses permeating the atmosphere and the ozone layer, we have passed the point of no return of getting back to a representative congress.
#24
Ibenn and nora ~ I concur with you both. This whole fiasco looks like a grandiose misuse of power. Sure, it makes more sense if you subpoena every Corporation and individual suspected of taking advantage of tax loopholes into the spotlight and grill them. Of course, as we know that isn't going to happen.
It makes much more sense to simply change the law and make this behavior illegal. Faster and cheaper.
What we see here only makes sense as a charade; or, more likely a public shake down. Rattling the chains of the uncooperative. You know, just like the mafia used to do with Mom and Pop businesses back in the day. They would send some goons into the shop and have them do some damage. Then they would turn around and offer "protection insurance" against future actions that they themselves caused.
Another possibility is that a competitor, such as Microsoft, bought off "someone" of high enough rank to "lean on" their competition to harm them, or, to intimidate them into accepting an offer they previously refused.
If we sit here scratching our heads trying to figure out what legitimate reason could be behind this action we may all die of old age. Only if they call in every other entity committing these actions will there be almost a legitimate reason. Till then, ask yourself why the Mafia would pick on one company that isn't breaking the law out of a hay stack of companies and individuals doing the same thing. Then ask yourself who has the motive and the most to gain from it, and who are the biggest campaign contributors to the members of the committees conducting the investigations.
I think the most confusing thing we can do is trying to understand the purpose of this "legal" proceeding from the prospective of it being part of a "legal" action for "legal" reasons. (Feel free to substitute "logical" for "legal" in the previous sentence.) The time has come that we should all start to think 'outside the box' when we try to figure out what our Government is really doing whenever they do anything.
#25
Quote Alex Jones at infowars:As of March 2013 Apple reported having a total of $145 billion cash on hand, but $102 billion was stashed in offshore funds. On April 24, CEO Tim Cook announced that Apple would return $100 billion to shareholders by the end of 2015. To finance the expanded capital return, Apple will raise its dividend 15 percent and increase its share buyback program six-fold to $60 billion. In other words, Apple is going to go into debt, for the first time in more than a decade, in order to keep investors happy.Why go into debt? Why not just use some of those offshore billions they’ve got lying around gathering dust? Because, to bring that money into the U.S., Apple would have to pay a 35 percent corporate tax. Why pay an outrageous tax bill when a company with a AA-rating like Apple’s can borrow money at a 1.9% interest rate?
Well that explains what Apple is doing. So is the Government mad because Apple found a loophole in the loophole to make their little investors happy? Is the Government that dedicated to keeping common people out of "easy" finance?
I still don't quite get it. Anyone else got an explanation?
Read more at infowars:
http://www.infowars.com/senate-subcomittee-investigating-apples-offshore-tax-practices/
#26
Not only are they not paying their fair share of taxes, most corporations are not even using the labor in our country to manufacture their goods. A good book to read is "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" by John Perkins. It is a true life story that will put everything into perspective for anyone who does not understand the filthy manipulative power of corporations and their total disregard for human life. What corporations like Walmart are doing around the globe is a travesty and needs to stop. I can only say it starts at home, stop buying their products and they will have to change.
#27
Quote leighmf:Just like few thought it was suspicious that Nixon was lead counsel for Pepsico and left the Bottlers Convention in Dallas hours before The Assassination which motorcade would have taken another route were it not for the Convention
leighmf ~ Interesting indeed! There is a lot of stuff out there about the Nixon/JFK connection. Nixon was the incumbent Vice President under Eisenhower before JFK was elected. He is often attributed with orchestrating the infamous October Surprise which was to be the invasion of Cuba just after being elected President. When JFK was elected instead he heard about the plan too late and tried to stop it. That caused the "Bay of Pigs." Here's an interesting story by Mark Tracy that expands on the Pepsi Cola link you've provided:
http://mtracy9.tripod.com/kennedy.html
Mark Tracy expands on the Pepsi link and links it to Cuba.Quote Mark Tracy:Both Nixon and Crawford made comments in the Dallas newspapers to the effect that they, unlike the President, didn't need Secret Service protection, and they intimated that the nation was upset with Kennedy's policies. It has been suggested that this taunting may have been responsible for Kennedy's critical decision not to order the Plexiglas top placed on his limousine on November 22." [Notes: The Pepsi-Cola company had a sugar plantation and factory in Cuba, which the Cuban government nationalized in 1960; CIA contract agent Chauncey Holt toldNewsweek magazine in 1991 that Pepsi-Cola President Donald Kendall was "considered by the CIA to be the eyes and ears of the CIA" in the Caribbean; a photograph taken on November 21, 1963 — the day before the assassination — shows Donald Kendall meeting with Richard Nixon in Dallas. Click to view]*There is also an interesting segment in the article linking the Watergate break in and the JFK assassination:
Quote Mark Tracy:Other facts linking Nixon to the JFK assassination emerged after Nixon had become President, during the Watergate conspiracy. In his memoir, The Ends of Power, former White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman cites several conversations in which President Nixon expressed concern about the Watergate affair becoming public knowledge and where this exposure might lead. Haldeman writes:"In fact, I was puzzled when he [Nixon] told me, 'Tell Ehrlichman this whole group of Cubans [Watergate burglars] is tied to the Bay of Pigs.' After a pause I said, 'The Bay of Pigs? What does that have to do with this [the Watergate burglary]?' But Nixon merely said, 'Ehrlichman will know what I mean,' and dropped the subject."
Later in his book, Haldeman appears to answer his own question when he says, "It seems that in all of those Nixon references to the Bay of Pigs, he was actually referring to the Kennedy assassination."
If Haldeman's interpretation is correct, then Nixon's instructions for him to, "Tell Ehrlichman this whole group of [anti-Castro] Cubans is tied to the Bay of Pigs," was Nixon's way of telling him to inform Ehrlichman that the Watergate burglars were tied to Kennedy's murder. (It should be noted that many Cuban exiles blamed Kennedy for the failure to overthrow Castro at the Bay of Pigs, pointing to Kennedy's refusal to allow the U.S. military to launch a full-scale invasion of the island.)
Mark also cites sworn eye witness testimony that Nixon aide E. Howard Hunt was seen paying an assassination team in Dallas the night before the assassination:
Quote Mark Tracy:Several reports over the years have placed Hunt in Dallas at the time of the Kennedy assassination. In 1974, the Rockefeller Commission concluded that Hunt used eleven hours of sick leave from the CIA in the two-week period preceding the assassination. Later, eyewitness Marita Lorenz testified under oath that she saw Hunt pay off an assassination team in Dallas the night before Kennedy's murder. (Hunt v. Liberty Lobby; U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida; 1985) Click to read transcriptIn taped conversations with Haldeman, Nixon is obviously worried about what would happen if Hunt's involvement in the Watergate conspiracy came to light. Nixon says, "Of course, this Hunt, that will uncover a lot of things. You open that scab, there's a hell of a lot of things, and we feel that it would be very detrimental to have this thing go any further ... the President's belief is that this is going to open the whole Bay of Pigs thing up again." Click to Listen: President Nixon instructs Haldeman on what to tell the CIA (text below)
He then ends the article with this bombshell from Nixon's own recorded mouth:
Quote Mark Tracy:On the tape, recorded in May of 1972, the president confided to two top aides that the Warren Commission pulled off 'the greatest hoax that has ever been perpetuated.' Unfortunately, he did not elaborate."
'The greatest hoax that has ever been perpetuated.' Back in the day that was true. But now, the 911 Commission has taken its place in the history book of 'greatest hoaxes ever perpetrated.' When crooks don't get caught they always try to out do themselves. I wonder what the next 'greatest hoax ever perpetrated' will be?
#28
DAnneMarc: Sorry, but I've been pretty busy on other things lately and haven't been able to participate much on this blog.
That link you provided to the Haldeman/Nixon conversation (at the tripod website) didn't work. But I did find this:
Quote Richard M. Nixon:
President Nixon: Of course, this is a—[E. Howard] Hunt will—that will uncover a lot of—he had a lot of [unclear] when you open that scab there’s a hell of a lot of things and then “we just feel that this would be very detrimental to have this thing go any further, that this involves these Cubans, and Hunt, and a lot of hanky-panky that we have nothing to do with ourselves.” Well, what the hell, did Mitchell know about this thing [unclear]?
And there is a link on that site to the mp3 recording.
http://whitehousetapes.net/transcript/nixon/smoking-gun
------------------
and this:
Quote m9tracy.tripod:
One of the most tantalizing nuggets about Nixon's possible inside knowledge of JFK assassination secrets was buried on a White House tape until 2002. On the tape, recorded in May of 1972, the president confided to two top aides that the Warren Commission pulled off 'the greatest hoax that has ever been perpetuated.' Unfortunately, he did not elaborate."
http://mtracy9.tripod.com/kennedy.html
------------------------
This is a very interesting website at tripod.com..lots of stuff to ponder including this:
Quote Paul C. Roberts, Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury under President Ronald Reagan: "I will begin by stating what we know to be a solid, incontrovertible, scientific fact. We know that it is strictly impossible for any building, much less steel columned buildings, to 'pancake' at free fall speed. Therefore, it is an incontrovertible fact that the official explanation of the collapse of the WTC buildings is false."
http://mtracy9.tripod.com/kennedy.html
#29
CORPORATIONS DON'T PAY TAXES!!!!!!! PERIOD. CORPORATIONS ARE TAX COLLECTORS NOT TAXPAYERS. Why is this concept completely ignored??? We blindly run on about corporations not being people and yet we expect them to be taxed as people (pay their fair share) and let the real criminals, the corporate leaders that use the corporate name as a scapegoat to exert political influence to their own ends. IMO the board of directors and shareholders should bear the burden of any corporate taxes which should be used to pay the cost of corporate use of the commons such as roads, police, fire etc. The customer should not bear the burden of corporate taxes. It's enough that customers must pay COGS and profit.
#30
Corporations are using complicated chains of holding companies and offshore bank accounts to avoid USA taxes. Since corporations are now considered "people" they should be prosecuted for tax evasion. Their assets should be seized and the officers of the corporation should spend time in jail. But of course corporations and banks have used their bribes and donations to turn our government into Crazy World. Crazy World is a place where CEO's of banks and corporations are never help accountable to anyone and never have to pay their fair share of taxes. I pray for political leaders who will point this out and re-institute federal regulations the way President Roosevelt did. Our current leaders just dance around the issue of bank and corporate corruption. They do the crazy marionette dance with the corporations, banks, and CEO's pulling the strings.
#31
You should not havet to legislate enough taxes to run a government. anyone with good sense can realize that if our bridges are falling in, massive debt and deficit, the country is hurting for money. It is not illegal to donate money to our government. It may be a good idea especially if they spend it wisely. Government is only as good as the accuracy of the count of votes cast.
#32
The Republicans voter suppression has served them and the 1% well in the short run. But is very short sighted. President Obama promised to fix voter suppression and it would have a glorious everlasting effect on this country and his legacy.
#33
One of the reasons the Republicans fabricate scandals is to take everyones eye off things like voter suppression.
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I watched Tim Cook's testimony yesterday, and I don't recall him, Peter Oppenheimer, or Phillip Bullock claiming they should be praised or were "ingenious" for their tax minimization practices.
If you watch the testimony, Apple's executives explained that their subsidiaries in Europe pay taxes on their sales in Europe, and then whatever is left over as profit is sent to one of three Apple subsidiaries in Ireland. That subsidiary is a holding company; the taxes on the profits it holds have already been paid.
Any further profits from investments by the holding company are taxed under U.S. tax law, and Apple Inc. in the United States pays the taxes.
Apple didn't break the law, and I'm not even sure that Apple management did anything unethical. They have a duty under the law to maximize profits, because those profits don't belong to Apple executives, they belong to the shareholders. Paying more tax than necessary abrogates that duty.
Apple funds domestic operations with domestic profits, and foreign operations with foreign profits. It doesn't mix them.
Unlike Google, Apple doesn't shift its intellectual property to Europe so they can avoid U.S. taxes. Unlike Google, Apple doesn't use Dutch subsidiaries to avoid paying taxes.
There is an easy fix to this: Congress can pass a law which makes keeping money offshore illegal, that all foreign profits from foreign operations must be repatriated to the United States in a reasonable (or fixed) time. But Congress hasn't done that. Why not? Cisco, Google, Apple, and many other companies would pay billions in additional taxes if this were done.
It's very difficult for me to understand how anyone who had actually bothered to watch the testimony, rather than getting information from sound bites, could come to the conclusion that Apple did something wrong here.