Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Confirms Plans to Build Data Center in Iowa, Contribute Up to $100M to Community Projects
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
so apple gets ~200million in tax breaks....after investing 1.3billion on the facility/land and then dropping another 100 million into the community to help?
i get a larger tax break percentage for dropping off couches at goodwill and donating a few hundred dollars to my local school districts for their FFA or Band programs lmao.
[doublepost=1503613657][/doublepost]
do you really think that ALL 2 million people are there just for development of Mac Computers?
i mean, lets ignore their other hardware products (iPhone, ipad, apple TV, Airpods, Beats line of headphones, MacBooks, iMacs, iPod)
and then lets ignore the same accessories that need to be designed and built for said products(chargers, data cables, apple headphones)
and then lets ignore their literal hundreds of retail stores across the states(each needing sales agents, Managers, in-house logistics like back-room receivers and inventory monitors and then all the genius bar technicians AND their creatives that run ALL of their FREE classes every single week)
and then lets ignore the large number of call centers( for customer service - Apple gets 20k calls alone that go through my center of ~300 employees, and theres ~6 such centers, plus centers for Applecare and tech support)
And then Lets ignore the Number of warehouses they need for ALL of their products( think, what, 50+ Million iPhones yearly, 15+ million iPads, millions of Macs and other products shipped YEARLY and ALLL the logistics crews needed for these, warehouse agents, teams for shipping/delivery, teams for inventory control and such)
then lets ignore ALL of the extra services they run ( iCloud, Apple Music, iTunes, App store/Mac App store, Messenger, ETC) and then ignore the same developers that helped make those services.
then lets ignore the ENTIRE corporate entity that they need to run said company (department heads for developers, department heads for sales, department heads for retail, department heads for logistics, department heads for their legal department, as well as all the department heads needed for correspondence with 3rd party distributors/manufacturers/accessories ETC)
how many SPECIFIC developers and engineers do you think that leaves for the SINGLE product line that is the Mac Pro? and then compare that to the ever growing and changing needs of the users? think about spending 2 years designing a product thats perfect, to find out after those 2 years, every hardware piece you built and designed around are now all obsolete and you need to start from scratch?
come on now. we are getting an iMac pro in december with a Mac Pro hinted for 2018. we all want a product that will last for 5+ years but we want one every 2 years? what sense does that make?
What makes it really bogus is the whole so-called app economy. I’d love to know how many people are making their primary living from developing Mac and iOS apps. And for some of the other numbers they claim would those jobs not exist if not for Apple?
Link to article please?Well, temporary construction jobs.
Good for Apple. About time they stepped up like other companies do. I bet Cupertino wishes they had held out for free WiFi now
Oh, well that's where the $100 million is coming from.
Their legal share? Yes. Their fair share? Most individual taxpayers who cannot afford shell companies in Reno would say no, but then neither do most other corporations.
When Apple says "two million", they include a million app developers who don't make a living wage, plus they include every UPS driver and all the people who work at factories making UPS trucks and airplanes, and the people who feed them and so on and so forth.
It's basically BS.
Fortune did an analysis not long ago that pointed out that using the same criteria, almost the same number of "jobs" were destroyed by Apple, leaving a net gain around 100K.
Iowa has a beautiful landscape. The last thing Iowa needs is more wind generators that blight the landscape. Wind energy is renewable but they have installed so many generators that it has made a lot of the middle of America an eyesore.
I just moved to the area near Waukee. Improvements to the parks are a welcome thing. After the initial construction will this thing actually provide many jobs?
I am not at all opposed to this being built in Iowa but wish they would drop the wind power.
Running on a SJ platform with thinner budgets, hmmmm..... nah. Please stick to running Apple, Tim.
Create construction jobs? LOL. It will be built by a general contractor and subcontractors who already exist and their employees who already work for the contractors in question. Perhaps some temporary workers will be hired if a subcontractor is light on staff but they’ll be let go when construction is complete. The real question is how many permanent jobs in the data center will be created after construction is complete?
Apple is by no means alone in touting the “construction jobs” that will be “created” by a project but I sure wish they’d just say nothing instead of touting artificially inflated jobs numbers in order to try and sell the tax breaks they are getting for building a data center there. I see it all the time in my state. Huge tax breaks that amount to millions of dollars in lost tax revenue are handed out to large corporations with very deep pockets in order to “lure” a company to build a facility here under the guise of “creating jobs”. Inevitably the actual number of jobs that will be created are inflated by both the company in question and the politicians who approve the deal in order to try and sell it to the public. It always winds up as a bad deal for ordinary, hard working, tax paying citizens. It is crony capitalism at its finest. The government should never be in the business of picking winners and losers but it happens all the time in the name of “creating” jobs. It’s a joke and both political parties are at fault here.
Apple is by no means alone in touting the “construction jobs” that will be “created” by a project but I sure wish they’d just say nothing instead of touting artificially inflated jobs numbers in order to try and sell the tax breaks they are getting for building a data center there. I see it all the time in my state. Huge tax breaks that amount to millions of dollars in lost tax revenue are handed out to large corporations with very deep pockets in order to “lure” a company to build a facility here under the guise of “creating jobs”. Inevitably the actual number of jobs that will be created are inflated by both the company in question and the politicians who approve the deal in order to try and sell it to the public. It always winds up as a bad deal for ordinary, hard working, tax paying citizens. It is crony capitalism at its finest. The government should never be in the business of picking winners and losers but it happens all the time in the name of “creating” jobs. It’s a joke and both political parties are at fault here.
Last edited:
you would actually be surprised.
1. think of every company who has an app. uber, Lyft, Leafly, Walmart, Netflix, Facebook ETC. they all hire developers and I'm sure, pay them a yearly salary to make and run their apps and keep them updated.
2. think of some of the bigger game apps out there, guys like clash of clans, and other such games. these guys employee hundreds of developers that they pay a handsome amount to, to simply run and update their apps.
3. even small independent developers? look at some of the little App store games. consider a relatively tiny game, that maybe only have 10-20k downloads? now imagine, each person who purchased it for 4.99, and then cut out apples Fee? thats still a large amount for what is usually a small handful of people to split(these same developers who are usually working on 2-3 projects/games/apps at a time) and then consider the beauty that is not micro transactions? that same 4.99$ game now is possibly making 10-20$ off a good number of people.
i know a few developers who's only job is making small little App store games and apps (things like advanced calculator Apps, DnD dice rolling apps, even just little group chatting apps, meme generator and even basic photo editing apps and such) most of their apps are only sold for 1.99 or 2.99 or so, but the 4 of them live in 1 big house, Code and produce the apps themselves, and individually still manage to make a decent living (35-45k a year each) which isn't bad for a group of 20-23 year old high school drop outs just starting in the app industry a few years ago.
and this is by going the independent route. you can easily hitch a ride with a much larger corporation who just need some people to form a team to develop and keep a free app afloat for their business.
This should hopefully put an end to the 'rush hour" I just hope coming from Australia, connection will be good.
You gotta fill a building with humans, otherwise its just empty server space. with remote access the only way..... leading to more trouble if u can't actually be on-site to fix stuff. possible 300 people or so would run u flat out with zero breaks... or anything.. on a building that size
You gotta fill a building with humans, otherwise its just empty server space. with remote access the only way..... leading to more trouble if u can't actually be on-site to fix stuff. possible 300 people or so would run u flat out with zero breaks... or anything.. on a building that size
Actually, Facebook is adding on to the one they built a couple years ago.
50 jobs is not much, but over 500 construction jobs make it worth it. This is only phase1 as they bought 2000 acres.
This is ****ed up. One in five kids in this country goes to bed hungry. Students have to take out student loans with heavy interest to pay for basic education. We have entire communities without access to clean water. We have millions who cannot afford insurance. Yet, we give a company that has more money on hand that the U.S. Treasury at any given time "subsidies" and tax breaks, so they can build a facility that will generate more money for them?
What is wrong with America? I hope we all wake up soon...
Agreed. There is something wrong when the super rich people/corporations get special tax benefits. The only conclusion is that the poor and middle class suffer.
Yes, yes, yes, and we all know what Egomaniac Great Cheetohead Leader is going to take 100% credit for this announcement.
Nearly half of the population doesn't even pay income taxes. 45% in 2015, and I think I heard 49% in 2016: http://nypost.com/2016/02/24/45-percent-of-americans-pay-no-federal-income-tax/ and you are worried about writeoffs of people/corporations that pay taxes already?
Corporations pay 10% of the federal taxes received, people making 100k or more a year pay 79% of the federal income taxes collected. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tan...-pay-most-income-taxes-but-enough-to-be-fair/
Your conclusion is rather odd.
[doublepost=1503631492][/doublepost]
Wake up so those making under $100k a year need to pay their fair share? I agree!!! Completely!
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tan...s-but-enough-to-be-fair/ft_15-03-23_taxesind/
(and no, I am not a high income person, but do recognize using heart strings to try to make points is irrelevant when facts portray a different picture)
Last edited:
You are skewing the numbers. Those who make more should pay more. Corporations should pay their fair share as well and they should certainly not be getting free money from us. It's ****ed up. The same banks that have nearly destroyed global financial markets and caused insane amount of damage received essentially zero percent interest loan. Students pay 8% interest on student loans. Yet, they are the future. They are the investment we should be making as a country.
I happen to fall into that higher bracket and I absolutely resent how the government is using that money. It doesn't change the fact that we are giving aways billions each year to corporations that do not need the money. At the same time, we leave behind those who really need help.
Think about it for a while. We try to create universal healthcare and a certain political party says that it's an unfair "incursion into free market." Then they turn around and give billions of dollars to rich corporations that do not need the money to start. It's wrong. It has to change.
Apple is the largest taxpayer in the world. Their tax rate is above Google and Microsoft, how is not that "fair share"?
Perhaps this article apple-has-destroyed-american-jobs-2012-5
Yup, the data centers I have been to have no more then 15-20 people working inside. About 10 are security and the rest maintenance.
and this shows up in my LA Times feed .... (ARTICLE) 
"
They should have hung their heads in shame instead. Apple took them to the cleaners, and their taxpayers will be paying the bill. The politicians talked as though the data center would put Waukee on the map as a first-class high-tech center. The truth is that it will mark Waukee as a first-class patsy.
To bring the project home, Waukee and the state are giving Apple about $208 million in tax abatements. For that, they’re getting a plant that will employ a permanent workforce of 50 people.
"
"
They should have hung their heads in shame instead. Apple took them to the cleaners, and their taxpayers will be paying the bill. The politicians talked as though the data center would put Waukee on the map as a first-class high-tech center. The truth is that it will mark Waukee as a first-class patsy.
To bring the project home, Waukee and the state are giving Apple about $208 million in tax abatements. For that, they’re getting a plant that will employ a permanent workforce of 50 people.
"