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''But we make so many jobs for the American market so why should we pay more tax''? Come on they have a point here.

If you are so happy to pay for old tech (Mac pro) then why would you worry about letting Apple get away with a few Billion.. I mean think of your shares!

You cant have it both ways!
 
Indeed. Just like they started giving dividends before the hearing. Still a happy coincidence/bullet point to now be able to be included in their letter.

I am not arguing for or against here - but at the same time - something like mentioning dividends (which are very generous) only started recently. And Apple as a company has been public for how long? It's not like they've always given a dividend. And it's been a long time since a PC was built here. So - again - it's great. But that wasn't the norm

Apple is now considered a value based company instead of a growth company. Most companies start dividends when they go from a growth to a value based company.
 
If they distribute their profits to their shareholders, it'd seem reasonable to patriate the profits as well and pay any tax consequence involved.

I don't think anyone has demanded that they repatriate the money they need to run and / or expand their oversees operations. Not to repatriate money they intent to passover to shareholders is curious. The IRS (congress) would be fool to allow this precedent.

Borrowing tens of billions to be distributed to shareholders seems pretty fishy, when the company claims to have 150 billion in it's coffers around the world.
It is not fishy at all when interest rates are lower then the rate it would pay to bring some of that money into the US. 50 billion of that 150 is already in the US BTW.
 
Apple is now considered a value based company instead of a growth company. Most companies start dividends when they go from a growth to a value based company.

I'm not arguing that at all. I agree with you. However - it's very nice/convenient for them to report that in this statement. To someone who isn't familiar with Apple's stock - they might assume that this has been going on for a long time. That was my point.
 
Apple offering constructive tax solutions. And getting their side of the story out before congress paints them as greedy tax evaders. Nice job Tim/Peter. :)
 
If they distribute their profits to their shareholders, it'd seem reasonable to patriate the profits as well and pay any tax consequence involved.

I don't think anyone has demanded that they repatriate the money they need to run and / or expand their oversees operations. Not to repatriate money they intent to passover to shareholders is curious. The IRS (congress) would be fool to allow this precedent.

Borrowing tens of billions to be distributed to shareholders seems pretty fishy, when the company claims to have 150 billion in it's coffers around the world.

With interest rates at record lows its cheaper to borrow and pay the interest then pay the taxes.
 
Apple is now considered a value based company instead of a growth company. Most companies start dividends when they go from a growth to a value based company.

Or they start dividends when they amass an unjustifiable amount of cash.

The "Apple must no longer be a growth story because they're now issuing dividends" argument is flawed.
 
The tax code was already in place before Apple incorporated. If they didn't like it then don't incorporate. It's as simple as that.

To play the victim & point the finger of blame on the government is weak, pathetic & typical of the entitlement mentality.

They pay all that they are legally required; therefore the problem isn't Apple. The problem - if you consider it a problem - is the US tax code, and the entity that controls it (hint: it is the government).
 
''But we make so many jobs for the American market so why should we pay more tax''? Come on they have a point here.

If you are so happy to pay for old tech (Mac pro) then why would you worry about letting Apple get away with a few Billion.. I mean think of your shares!

You cant have it both ways!

Apple's not getting away with anything. They're paying exactly what they owe, in all the jurisdictions where they owe taxes. Congress is just upset that their jurisdiction doesn't encompass the entire planet.
 
It sounds like Apple was answering a lot of people that were writing on Macrumors forums about how they were handling taxes.
 
Apple needs to start caring about America and creating domestic jobs.

I really hope anybody that says similar things use Apple or Motorola phones, and use American cars, etc....

Yes, Apple and Motorola don't assemble in US but at least some of the profits come back to US economy vs. none.
 
Indeed. Just like they started giving dividends before the hearing. Still a happy coincidence/bullet point to now be able to be included in their letter.

I am not arguing for or against here - but at the same time - something like mentioning dividends (which are very generous) only started recently. And Apple as a company has been public for how long? It's not like they've always given a dividend. And it's been a long time since a PC was built here. So - again - it's great. But that wasn't the norm

Are you suggesting they initiated a dividend in 2012 because it would be good PR for when they might be called before congress some day to discuss the taxes they pay?
 
The tax code was already in place before Apple incorporated. If they didn't like it then don't incorporate. It's as simple as that.

To play the victim & point the finger of blame on the government is weak, pathetic & typical of the entitlement mentality.

They are paying and following exactly what the tax laws are saying. Just because the government doesn't like it when companies are paying less due to legal loopholes/rules makes it entirely the fault of the governments, not companies.

Apple is not playing the victim here, it's the government paying the victim here and demanding more money from the tech companies simply because they're smarter at understanding laws than the governments.

It has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with entitlement and absolutely have to do with the tax laws that is filled with legal loopholes and complexities that makes it difficult for anybody to follow beside smart lawyers who knows all the tricks to pay less taxes legally.
 
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"They are paying and following exactly what the tax laws are saying. Just because the government doesn't like it when companies are paying less due to legal loopholes makes it entirely the fault of the governments, not companies.

Apple is not playing the victim here, it's the government paying the victim here and demanding more money from the tech companies simply because they're smarter at understanding laws than the governments.

It has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with entitlement and absolutely have to do with the tax laws that is filled with legal loopholes and complexities that makes it difficult for anybody to follow beside smart lawyers who knows all the tricks to pay less taxes legally."



Thats the problem with lifetime politicians, they are all taking financial bribes to benefit certain companies. We could probably fix most of this with a one term limit on all public office.
 
Basically Congress can't believe that there's any money anywhere in the world that they can't tax. The concept confounds them.

Thank you. They are even working on additional individual tax laws that goes after people (mainly immigrants) who have property or income outside the US, even if that property or income is being taxed by another government.
 
They are paying and following exactly what the tax laws are saying. Just because the government doesn't like it when companies are paying less due to legal loopholes the rules makes it entirely the fault of the governments, not companies.

Apple is not playing the victim here, it's the government paying the victim here and demanding more money from the tech companies simply because they're smarter at understanding laws than the governments.

It has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with entitlement and absolutely have to do with the tax laws that is filled with legal loopholes and complexities that makes it difficult for anybody to follow beside smart lawyers who knows all the tricks to pay less taxes legally.
Made a change to your post ^^^

The left likes to use "tax loopholes" as it sounds dirtier then saying these companies are just following the rules in the tax code to not pay anymore in taxes then they have to.
 
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Are you meaning to imply that America is only good for manufacturing, and all the other higher skill jobs here are not considered? America is much better than just an assembly country. ...

Lots of people need assembly jobs. It is dignified work and is required in every society. Otherwise people are just selling doughnuts to each other, not necessarily a noble or sustainable model.
 
Call me crazy, but I think this is actually going to be pretty entertaining to watch. C-SPAN is going to cover the hearing, though I'm not sure it'll be broadcast live.

If you're interested, go to http://www.c-spanvideo.org/schedule and find it under Events: "APPLE CEO DISCUSSES U.S. TAX CODE". If you click, it'll pop-up a little thing that lets you ask to be notified when it airs and/or when it's available in their video library for streaming.
 
Bottom line: This is not Apple's problems. It is the governments' problems. Apple is doing what's right.

Bingo! If the ----wits in government don't like the consequences of their retarded laws, it is up to them to change those laws. Apple has legal obligation to its shareholders to do whatever it legally can do to improve its bottom line.
 
Lots of people need assembly jobs. It is dignified work and is required in every society. Otherwise people are just selling doughnuts to each other, not necessarily a noble or sustainable model.

Or, you know, actually using their minds to create new ideas. I don't have a problem with manufacturing jobs, but let's be honest, if your job can be done by a robot, eventually it will be done by a robot. And yes, even the jobs doing maintenance on robots will be done by robots eventually.

With robots and 3D printers (which are also robots), pretty much all human manufacturing has an end date on it, and we are headed there rather quickly. The only manufacturing that will have a value will be in manufacturing unique items. That means works of physical art, that means luxury goods made by hand specifically to increase its value (as items made by hand will be seen as particularly rare). Everything else will be increasingly manufactured without a single human ever touching it, with increasing quality and customizability.

The only jobs here to stay are the ones creating intellectual property, as somebody still needs to tell the robots what to build, and those creating new math (programming, physics, chemistry) to make the robots more efficient. Well, and the entertainment professions. We'll always need comedians, artists, writers, musicians, and actors. Scientists and teachers will continue to get shafted, but that's just how things go.
 
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