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Apple CEO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer Testify In Front of Senate Committee on Tax Strategies [Hearing Over]

Ironically, Apple isn't using a gimmick. If they were, they'd be standing apart from other companies because of that gimmick. What they're doing is employing a strong tax department to minimize their tax liability in every way possible. In any large and successful American business, this same activity takes place each and every day. It is both expected and necessary. No company should pay one penny more than required and it is those individuals' duties to make sure that is how it plays out.

Congress created the ability for companies to act just like Apple is acting. If not, there would be audits, fines, etc. Right now it's an angry congress because the economy is in the dumps, we don't have enough tax revenue to pay for their waste and they need a source to point the finger at. The mirror is the right place to look. Companies do not create tax law - congress does. If they didn't break the law, only congress can change their ability to operate in the manner in which they do. Until they choose to do so, congress has no blame to place on any company.

Congress is just playing a game at this point. The public is tired of government subsidies and financial strategies used by major companies to avoid paying more in taxes. So since they can't shoulder blame for writing crappy business tax laws all they have left is to blame companies for using the very strategy their crappy tax laws permit.
 
spazzcat said:
A flat tax would raise taxes on the poorest people in this country.
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When they get more refunded then they pay in thanks to earned tax credit it sure would. Our tax code is just another welfare program at this point.

It would be far better to have a very low flat tax and and a higher national sales tax on items that don't qualify as need. If you are poor you wouldn't be buying anything but the bare needs like food, housing, and health items (soap, medicine, butt paper).
 
Luis Ortega said:
Yeah, and how's that? By outsourcing the manufacturing to sweat shops in China?
By not paying taxes?
By overcharging for their products?
I could also make out like a bandit if I didn't pay taxes, but I wouldn't have the temerity to claim that I was helping the country's economy.
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Apple hires manufacturing companies that outsource to China. Their prices are better. Apple's customer service is HERE, in Austin, TX, UNITED STATES. Stop with this outsourcing nonsense, because Apple shouldn't be the posterchild for outsourcing when nearly all their competitors have call centers in the Philippines.
 
spazzcat said:
The first one on the list and what most think of when you say flat tax:

"True" flat rate income tax [edit]
A true flat rate tax is a system of taxation where one tax rate is applied to all income with no deductions or exemptions.
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I understand that. But that is not what many have suggested in Congress and for the USA. They've suggested the marginal.
 
p.s. those complaining about Apple being brought into the hearing are now forgetting one thing.

This is an amazing opportunity for Apple. Listen to Cook right now. They get to promote what they do and their products. A government sponsored keynote to the world. They don't need to rent out the Moscone center ;)

Point is - yes - there's negativity with some of the precedings. But there's also a tremendous PR aspect here for Apple.
 
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