Do you know how the tax system works? Apple is keeping that money overseas because those earnings were from overseas operations. Money earned in England for example would stay in England. Our corp tax rate is one of the highest in the world so there is no incentive to bring it back. Apple already pays the most taxes of every company on the planet. Lower the rate and watch the money flow back.... If they didn't do everything to increase their profits they would not vbe doing their due diligence for their employees and shareholders.
Yep, lower the corporate tax rate and watch those trickle down economics in action. As for the accounting lesson, if I have overseas income as a US citizen you can bet I have to report that and pay taxes on it in the US, heck I have to pay US taxes (minus the foreign tax credit) even if I live in another country, but I'm an individual not a corporation so subject to different laws. While we are exploring "how the tax system works" you'll note that a US corp keeping money overseas is just a "deferral" which is due to be paid sometime in the future, of course this can be deferred indefinitely.
Obviously that money was made outside of the US. Through shell companies, in particular in Ireland, Apple can keep it's billions "deferred" from US taxes indefinitely. I don't mean to say this is unique to Apple, from what I understand there is in excess of 2 trillion dollars indefinitely deferred by corporations. Additionally when you say money made in England stays in England, that's not entirely factual and the EU is not thrilled with losing tax revenue through those Irish shell companies either. In fact the EU is accusing Ireland of unlawfully helping Apple hide this money.
What's interesting is that those Irish subsidiaries where Apple's money is parked, park their money in the US, loan it out, bank it, mortgages, investments, etc, but they can also invest in stocks, treasury bonds, etc with that money and even work out stock exchanges with other corporations enabling them to buy Apple stock with money which isn't taxed because that money is technically not repatriated. Not repatriated, but alive and well in the US and being used to generate more profit.
This isn't meant as an argument for or against corporate tax rates, as that's a HUGE topic and I'd also like to avoid this thread moving to the political section. My comment was half joking and meant to be lighthearted. I understand Apple's allegiance is to it's shareholders, but not its employees or partners employees, nor to this or any other country or it's consumers.
