Sounds like Tim is a "Do as I say, not as I do" kinda guy then...
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Apple Reportedly Shifted Billions of Dollars to Small Island of Jersey Amid Tax Crackdown [Updated]
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Exactly. It’s a consumer electronics company.
What’s all this stuff about ethics.
Morality and politics are individual and societal positions.
When you’re an icon bearer like Apple then people apply social values more extensively than to other brands. Apple has to be sensitive to that or they will alienate consumers who buy their goods. It’s all P.R.
Those people are idiots.
Tim Cooks legal duty is to maximise his return for his shareholders and act in the best interests of the Apple entities.
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It seems to me Apple’s statement is playing it both ways, just like they have gamed the system.
The statement about paying their tax in the USA, but then talk about the large foreign cash reserves (way, way, way more than will ever be needed overseas) because that’s where they earned it.
Fact is Apple is sitting in that overseas money, rather than repatriating it m, paying taxes on it to the USA, and paying shareholders, because they are betting that the bigger the cash pile grows, the more leverage they will have to force pols to change the tax code to get that, or future profits back, tax free.
The statement about paying their tax in the USA, but then talk about the large foreign cash reserves (way, way, way more than will ever be needed overseas) because that’s where they earned it.
Fact is Apple is sitting in that overseas money, rather than repatriating it m, paying taxes on it to the USA, and paying shareholders, because they are betting that the bigger the cash pile grows, the more leverage they will have to force pols to change the tax code to get that, or future profits back, tax free.
When it comes to taxes, one's fair share is exactly what the law says one must pay and not a penny more. Do you pay more than you legally owe?
Don't like Apple's tax avoidance? Lobby your governmental representatives to change the law.
When someone says that what Apple and other large corporations do is legal, that begs the question of how such a law came into being. If it was a result of lobbying, i.e. bribing, Congress to pass such a law, then that weakens their case.
Ok... Just so you know Social Justice is about applying the Constitution EQUALLY to everyone. Social programs are safety nets set up by governments to help less fortunate. One has nothing to do with the other.
If the US didn't spend the better part of 100 years stunting the growth of minorities with stupid 'separate but equal' laws, there would be no need for "social justice"
Yeah but I can't set up illegal off-shore accounts and blackmail governments in other countries to bend the law to my favorability and avoid paying a fair share in taxes
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You can avoid tax legally and you can use off shore entities. What’s stopping you.
You won’t need to do any blackmailing or anything illegal.
Tax codes never use the fair share percentage, not in any part of the world.
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That's not really a part of capitalism. Of course companies want to create profits for their shareholders. The problem comes in when they get out of balance and start making poor ethical or even overall bad decisions for the health of the company in order to elevate those profits above what they would otherwise be.
It's not like they are revealing the secrets of Hillary and the DNC. Then their lives might be in danger.
Heh, if that were the case, they'd probably already have had a hot-tub accident or shot themselves 2x to the head with gun in the left hand, or something along those lines.
I doubt if tax lawyers setup this stuff, it's really all that unknown or secretive. It's more a matter of whether the average person is aware of it and implications for the PR.
They are. Cook is right that they aren't doing anything illegal. Whether it's a so-called 'fair share' is a whole other discussion. And, fair-share for who, the USA gov't? The USA gov't doesn't really deserve another penny.
Why should they repatriate it? They are a global company. If the USA wants more of Apple's money flowing through their system, then they'll create attractive tax laws, just like these other countries did.
You're intimating that Apple, and others, have illegal accounts--that would, of course, be illegal. What Apple and other are doing is legal and they pay the taxes owed. If you had enough time to study the laws, or money to pay a professional to do it for you, you could also pay next to no tax.
I'm not a rich man by any means, but I have never owed my government any income tax. I've been filing income tax returns for 26 years and each year I get a complete refund of everything I paid through the prior year. I bet you'd do the same if you could find out how.
Except you can’t. Neither can I. Only large corporations like Apple can get away with this sort of BS.
This is where I'm at. I'm all for following the letter of the law (think the govt will feel bad about throwing the book at you?), but we need to fix the minimum tax rates people have regardless of how they generate money or spend it.
Who do you think is lobbying the governments to set up these byzantine tax laws?
My guess would be that it's probably not private citizens.
"Change the laws," they all scream!
But how can we change the laws if private citizens can't bankroll millions of dollars to buy off politicians?
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Agreed. The sunshine laws have gotten trampled pretty badly over the last few years.
It's completely shameful, but we need these leaks to be able to actual govern ourselves now.
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Damn man. You are on FIRE and woke AF!
10/10 A+++++ WOW
Bravo, brilliantly summed up.
Apparently Apple even courted tax havens by sending out a questionnaire before choosing Jersey. It is hysterical how people think bravo for Apple, all while paying their taxes and not apparently seeing any moral issues whatsoever with Apple actively seeking ways of avoiding doing so.
There will come a point when the public is no longer willing to put up with this behavior. Just look at our past (no need to go any further back than two to three-hundred years) and how violent the public/the rest of society has gotten when we've had the deck stacked against us and were backed into a corner.
It's all fun and games until the public revolts drops the guillotine on the overlords...
In the UK apparently there has been quite a continuing drop in Starbucks sales since news of their avoidance a few years back. After a while it does begin to grate, knowing your taxed income that you are spending is then going to a company who doesn't then pay their fair share.There will come a point when the public is no longer willing to put up with this behavior. Just look at our past (no need to go any further back than two to three-hundred years) and how violent the public/the rest of society has gotten when we've had the deck stacked against us and were backed into a corner.
It's all fun and games until the public revolts drops the guillotine on the overlords...
No, that's not his legal requirement. Cook is required to run Apple in the best interest of the shareholders, which does not translate to maximizing profits at the expense of society, environment, or other external entities. Lessening the tax burden is fine, but unethical practices are not excused under the guise of fiduciary responsibilities.
And, as said before - this is all very hypocritical of Apple's social awareness campaigns.
3.7% is a much more reasonable tax rate than what I have now. That's about 10x lower for most working people (or anyone not being heavily subsidized by government).
How can I do what Apple does to achieve a 3.7% income tax rate? What corporations do I need to establish, what countries do I file paperwork in (and what paperwork do I file), and how do I start a process of achieving this? I too want to live in the US, have clients from abroad, and pay the least amount possible, like Apple.
A lower tax rate like that would be an instant life improvement for me. Government urinates away the thousands I pay them in a heartbeat and it means nothing to them. If anything, income tax and other high tax rates in this country are no more than a system of control to inhibit my progress; the government just has the Federal Reserve monetize what they need, anyway, passing the debt bill to the next generation.
We should't be condemning corporations for understanding the 10000+ pages of tax code and figuring out the loopholes; we should be finding ways to emulate their success.
No I'm saying to charge a rate of tax that gives them an incentive to keep their money in country rather than resorting to using these loopholes which leads to no tax being charged or minimal.
Well, as our own Australia Taxation office is saying here : "What money is earned here, stays here"
Wish you could say the same for U.S as well. There may be all sorts of reason to convince why off-shore tax is ok,,, but all of them miss the point.. "You sell to U.S citizens don't you"
Wish you could say the same for U.S as well. There may be all sorts of reason to convince why off-shore tax is ok,,, but all of them miss the point.. "You sell to U.S citizens don't you"