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Apple Reportedly Shifted Billions of Dollars to Small Island of Jersey Amid Tax Crackdown [Updated]
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It is easy to point fingers, but what is your suggested solution?
Let's say Apple out of the goodness of their hearts (or by public shame), voluntarily pays more tax than it is legally compelled to, well so what? Congratulations, you've got a single multinational company to do it, but none of the rest of the thousands that do. And why should Apple do it when none of their competitors and peers are? That too is unfair, is irresponsible to their shareholders, and would make them chumps. Any solution needs to cover all of the companies, not one.
The solution is exactly what Tim Cook has been calling for, international tax reform.
Let's say Apple out of the goodness of their hearts (or by public shame), voluntarily pays more tax than it is legally compelled to, well so what? Congratulations, you've got a single multinational company to do it, but none of the rest of the thousands that do. And why should Apple do it when none of their competitors and peers are? That too is unfair, is irresponsible to their shareholders, and would make them chumps. Any solution needs to cover all of the companies, not one.
The solution is exactly what Tim Cook has been calling for, international tax reform.
Well tithes weren’t abolished in England until as recently as the 1830s, though that’s still certainly a long time ago!
Jersey isn't really the UK...its basically France 
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Still have to pay chancel tax if the local church roof collapses don't forget! Unless one insures against it.
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Still have to pay chancel tax if the local church roof collapses don't forget! Unless one insures against it.
Yes, and you would create Civil War and Political Unrest, Taxes are for a reason.
Thousands of US Macrumors readers: “There’s an original Jersey?!”
So I often see this view expressed, however if you think about it a bit more you will realise it is not correct. Lawmakers can only make laws in their own jurisdiction. The Irish government can not more tax Apple in Jeresy than they can in California. Austria cannot make tax laws that affect a company in Australia (well out side of import taxes). This sort of situation came about because companies like Apple are a) multinational, b) pay clever accountants and lawyers to find and exploit loop-holes. It is not an accident that they pay little tax. They willfully play off the countries different rules against each other to achieve this. Yes some countries could do more to stop it - but, be under no illusions - this did not come about by happenstance or fortune. This took effort to set-up. So yes it is Apple's fault.
Define fair share. As long as what they’re doing is legal, I don’t care. If you want change, change the tax laws
If governments want them to stop doing this they should close the door on the laws that allow them to do to it. Every government in most 1st world countries uses the same speech of how we are going to tax the rich more. You know what that leads to? More of the rich using loopholes in laws to pay less tax, limit their exposure in those countries and as a result everyone looses because they stash their cash in these heavens instead of investing it in said country.
if governments want more of these super rich individuals and companies to keep their cash in country, they need to make their laws in favor of the rich to encourage them to do so. Stop with the inheritance tax, the absurdly high income and corporation tax and then maybe they would be more inclined to keep their money at "home".
Political parties play of this stance of lets tax them more to get more votes but realistically its a false economy. All it does is encourage them to move more of their money away and instead of getting 40-50% of their money they get 0%.
Uk is a prime example of it due to inheritance tax. Because of it most wealthy people form trusts or offshore companies so that when the leader of the family dies their family isn't burdened with finding 40% of the value of the estate to pay the taxman. Who gets caught our by most taxes? People like us the common people.
if governments want more of these super rich individuals and companies to keep their cash in country, they need to make their laws in favor of the rich to encourage them to do so. Stop with the inheritance tax, the absurdly high income and corporation tax and then maybe they would be more inclined to keep their money at "home".
Political parties play of this stance of lets tax them more to get more votes but realistically its a false economy. All it does is encourage them to move more of their money away and instead of getting 40-50% of their money they get 0%.
Uk is a prime example of it due to inheritance tax. Because of it most wealthy people form trusts or offshore companies so that when the leader of the family dies their family isn't burdened with finding 40% of the value of the estate to pay the taxman. Who gets caught our by most taxes? People like us the common people.
It's a joke to think that a company pays taxes. No company ever paid a dime in tax, they just pass it on to the consumers. It's a joke alright. A bad joke on us.
This is such a farce. "We'll comply with the law IF it changes, but we'll let all of our rich peer companies lobby the hell out of politicians to keep it the way it is now."
God I wish people would PLEASE QUIT repeating this **** all over MR... At least not without understanding where it came from!
Source: http://www.cringely.com/2015/06/24/...l-tell-you-exactly-who-is-killing-it-and-why/
Like, we keep saying this as a justification for corporate entities to act like freaking sociopaths. There is NO honest justification. None.
Don't like the tax rate, the debt? Maybe these ****** companies should start lobbying against endless war and defense spending instead of lobbying to keep these tax loopholes open. Tim Cook says so much lying bullcrap about making the world a better place and kumbyah and all that and he's is a liar at worst, or an idiot at best.
Hardly a surprise, but publicity should put a dampener on Cook's endless preaching about the "values" the company holds so dear. The hypocrisy is nauseating.
Actually the Irish government was happy with how much tax they were paying in Ireland. It was Brussels that wasn't.
But then who will you blame when these companies cut thousands of jobs to make up for revenue lost to taxes? Corporations aren't making the rules. They only play by them. If we all paid our "fair share" of taxes, there would be lots of money going into the government but we have accountants and tax loopholes to make sure we do not overpay. Same difference.
Tim’s liberal values only extend to social politics. In economics he’s just a greedy crony capitalist like the rest of them
Or we could spend less...where is it written that government must get bigger every year? That every program is noble and necessary? Please, if they paid more in taxes the X would be 1,399.00 instead of 999.00
I'd hazzard a guess and say there were some 'favours' going on.
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Of course the Irish government was happy with it, because Ireland was receiving a small portion of the entirety of Apple's revenue in Europe.
The problem is, they weren't paying anything close to the 12.5% corporation tax rate in Ireland because they made their European operations look far less profitable than they actually were.
Shame on Apple for writing, passing, and signing the current U.S. tax code into law.