Tim Cook Calls Apple's Tax Avoidance Accusations 'Total Political Crap'

[dk001]

Countries make the tax laws. Apple follows the tax laws. Apple doesn't want to burn money away at places with high taxes. They find the places with low taxes. Sounds like sound and brilliant economic sense to me.

The ONLY reason people have their panties in a bunch is if they feel entitled to this money. That Tax is ours! They get mad because the USA doesn't get to be the one to tax the cash. Well maybe, if we stopped treating businesses so bad, and made the environment here comfortable for businesses, we would have more people keeping their cash here. Over tax businesses and what happens? Steel mills shutdown, car manufacturers move out of country, manufacturing moves out.

But down with corporate greed right? Lets tax big business right? People just don't want to recognize how valuable to this country, these big businesses are. 40% tax. That is just robbery. Flat out government robbery.

I hope cook beats our politicians with that tax code until they give in.

You have to ask why it is at 40%. What is the driver and what keeps politico's from changing this if it is so bad?

Solution: flat tax across all boards.

 

[Thunderhawks]

Money is a greedy magnet. Just like roaches like wet floor, politicians gather to gold storage.

Let''s add that money is also like vapor.

Any draft in the wrong direction and it disappears!

 

[jaymzuk]

It's total political cr*p because congress critters could change the laws and take away some of these perfectly legal loopholes (that many use themselves on their own investments and tax returns!).

But they won't, because it would piss off many of their biggest party and reelection campaign donors. So they just lie and encourage some of you robin-hoods to say that Apple is "cheating" to fool you into voting for their reelection. And do nothing about the silly tax laws. That's political cr*p.

Nope. Certainly not when all of these companies are actively lobbying Government on these same issues:

https://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientissues_spec.php?id=D000021754&year=2015&spec=TAX

And for balance (I know such a concept is foreign here), Oracle, Qualcomm, Microsoft, Entertainment Software Assn, Intel and IBM spent more than Apple's $3.5m on lobbying this year.

 

[Bubba Satori]

The article that started it all.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/b...-aims-at-low-tax-states-and-nations.html?_r=0

Understanding Tim's meltdown.
http://fortune.com/2015/12/19/apple-cook-60-minutes/?xid=yahoo_fortune

The national debt is nearly $19 trillion.
When the national debt was $9 trillion it was called unpatriotic.

Tim's congressional testimony.
http://www.c-span.org/video/?312884...ity-committee-offshore-profit-sharing-panel-1
As others have pointed out, it's not just Apple.
But they are one of the biggest abusers of America's absurd tax code.

 

[Huracan]

Pay up and contribute to this nation that made you so successful

 

[coolfactor]

It's also totally true.

How is it true? Apple operates and provides services in other countries. That's money earned in those countries. Why does the US feel entitled to that revenue? Apple is a global company. Just because they originated in the US does not mean that a portion of every dollar earned is owed to the US government. That's unreasonable and completely ridiculous. It would be free money for doing nothing! I applaud Apple for not caving into these crazy demands.

 

[coolfactor]

Pay up and contribute to this nation that made you so successful

So Apple's success is entirely due to the US market?

More of the same nonsense thinking...

 

[AFEPPL]

How is it true? Apple operates and provides services in other countries. That's money earned in those countries. Why does the US feel entitled to that revenue? Apple is a global company. Just because they originated in the US does not mean that a portion of every dollar earned is owed to the US government. That's unreasonable and completely ridiculous. It would be free money for doing nothing! I applaud Apple for not caving into these crazy demands.

But its not just about the US, Apple UK avoided paying virtually any tax by funnelling everything though Ireland.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-400million-short-figure-tech-giant-paid.html

 

[furi0usbee]

Yes, it is. I would have assumed Apple's PR team could have crafted something a bit better for him to spout out. Although I believe he is an idiot, I don't need to be reminded of it every time he opens his mouth.

I've emailed Tim many times, but have only received one response (about the confederate flag issue in the app store) back from his apple.com account. I suppose it responds to his own mail like Jobs. I emailed Steve many times as well, but never heard back. I am thinking long and hard of letting TC know my views on this, but I know he won't agree, so I probably won't email him.

How is it true? Apple operates and provides services in other countries. That's money earned in those countries. Why does the US feel entitled to that revenue? Apple is a global company. Just because they originated in the US does not mean that a portion of every dollar earned is owed to the US government. That's unreasonable and completely ridiculous. It would be free money for doing nothing! I applaud Apple for not caving into these crazy demands.

Apple does NOTHING in Ireland but avoid paying taxes on money earned. Period. The end. Anything else you say to defend their "Ireland operation" has no merit. I never said they owe US taxes in Ireland. I said they avoid paying taxes. Apple sells more MacBooks in NYC every week than computers in Ireland probably over an entire year. Apple is ONLY in Ireland to save on taxes. ONLY. Wouldn't be surprised if they have an office in the Cayman Islands too.... but that's probably totally legit as well.

 

[firewood]

Pay up and contribute to this nation that made you so successful

Yes. Do. As soon as the congress critters change the tax laws so that they and all their political donor big corporations can pay up as well. It's about equality and a level playing field.

 

[mfvisuals]

Any legal methods for lowering a tax bill is perfectly fine, and actually is his responsibility as CEO to do so. Repatriating wealth and paying 40 percent to do so would not meet his responsibility to his shareholders. Ireland's government gave Apple the tax deal in a legal fashion years ago, well before the EU stuck their noses in it. Its not a shell, Apple employs thousands in Ireland for their European operations. Its all greedy governments wanting their cut and jealous competitors who wish they were as successful

Pretty much this.

 

[jnpy!$4g3cwk]

The majority of Americans elected a guy who had an official policy of "sharing the wealth". He was elected twice. My taxes have increased substantially in the past 7 years.

Really? I guess you must be doing well, then-- over the past 7 years when that guy was running the government?

My wealth has been increasingly redistributed to others as an official American policy, endorsed by rocket scientists like Tim Cook and all of the rest of the liberal creeps in the Apple universe, who are now suddenly against people feeling "entitled to the labor of others".

Funny how that works.

Hi, liberal creep here. I don't know how much money you make, but, if it is as much as you are implying, then, yes, I probably would like to increase your tax rate. Worse than that, I'm going to tell you that you should be happy to live in the U.S., which still has a first amendment for at least the next year.

 

[mfvisuals]

Apple does NOTHING in Ireland but avoid paying taxes on money earned. Period. The end. Anything else you say to defend their "Ireland operation" has no merit. I never said they owe US taxes in Ireland. I said they avoid paying taxes. Apple sells more MacBooks in NYC every week than computers in Ireland probably over an entire year. Apple is ONLY in Ireland to save on taxes. ONLY. Wouldn't be surprised if they have an office in the Cayman Islands too.... but that's probably totally legit as well.

You might want to check your facts before calling someone an idiot.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/irelan...eir-european-headquarters-in-cork-333878.html

http://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-to-hire-additional-1-000-workers-for-irish-operations-1447258147

Amongst other things, most of their European customer support is handled by their large headquarters in Cork, Ireland.

 

[MH01]

You might want to check your facts before calling someone an idiot.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/irelan...eir-european-headquarters-in-cork-333878.html

http://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-to-hire-additional-1-000-workers-for-irish-operations-1447258147

Amongst other things, most of their European customer support is handled by their large headquarters in Cork, Ireland.

Highest paid workers in the world, based on the income held in Ireland

Still tax avoidance. They could hire 100 000.....

 

[PrimeMatrix]

I too think that that the tax code is messed up.

 

[mfvisuals]

Highest paid workers in the world, based on the income held in Ireland

Still tax avoidance. They could hire 100 000.....

Sure, they *could* hire 100,000, but do they need that many people to run their EU business?

They aren't going to employ more people than are needed to operate their business effectively.

 

[Lancer]

If you were an accountant and didn't minimize your companies tax bill (within the laws) you would not be working for them too long.

 

[PrimeMatrix]

And totally legal. Unfortunately, this is a problem created by Congress (both parties), not Apple.

This is exactly how I feel and what I think.

 

[Kroo]

Tax minimisation is done by every person, every company and every entity that pays tax and is perfectly fine under tax laws. If the tax laws allow for minimisation, then nobody can complain. Tim is right, the tax laws don't reflect the digital age. If governments were smart they'd tax companies at the point of sale for every item in their jurisdiction. With digital transactions all you need do is tax it where it is bought. If governments weren't so idiotic and wasteful with taxpayers dollars to begin with, people wouldn't be overly upset at paying them. Anyone who doesn't minimise their taxes is a fool.

 

[CFreymarc]

Its not a shell, Apple employs thousands in Ireland for their European operations. Its all greedy governments wanting their cut and jealous competitors who wish they were as successful

You pretty much nailed it. Notice that Apple does not have any operations where there are governments subsidizing competing companies.

Let''s add that money is also like vapor.

Any draft in the wrong direction and it disappears!

Money a statement of value. If you have money or something is worth a lot of money, the society it exists in (be it government or free market driven) states that it is valuable. Free stock markets drive entire economies by assigning value based on a belief that something is valuable. Ideally, you put out a product, the market appreciates it, you get money. If it is not valuable, then you loose money.

However, there are rhetorical perversions. That can lead to money inflation which is, at the core, any entity giving value to something that the free market rejects. A classic example of this is the German hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic. That inflation occurred to reduce the economic and political power of those that opposed the banker sponsored National Socialist Party (Nazi) and their policies.

If you were an accountant and didn't minimize your companies tax bill (within the laws) you would not be working for them too long.

Reminds of a classic interview story.

Three accountants were interviewing for a CFO position. The CEO gave the first two a fiscal report and asked what it said about the company profit. The first two gave the CEO a very detailed fiscal answer after a looking at the report. The third didn't even look at the report before asking, "What do you want your profit to be for this year?" The third accountant got the job.

It's 45% over £150k

What people need to remember is the more companies such as apple, amazon and starbucks etc avoid tax, the more we have to pay in our taxes to make up the shortfall. I'm really hoping the EU digs it teeth deep into apple and stops them avoiding local taxes via loop holes. I've no issues with them not paying US tax on earning in other countries, but they must pay tax on all earning in those local counties at the full weight of tax..

Or these socialist countries can stop spending so much money on "social programs" protecting cronies that should have been out of society leadership generations ago. Get rid of your national healthcare program and let the free market sort it out, healthcare costs plummet.

 

[furi0usbee]

You might want to check your facts before calling someone an idiot.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/irelan...eir-european-headquarters-in-cork-333878.html

http://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-to-hire-additional-1-000-workers-for-irish-operations-1447258147

Amongst other things, most of their European customer support is handled by their large headquarters in Cork, Ireland.

Yeah, they want additional workers so it looks like they are doing something there. They could do the same out of a back office in Cupertino... except with much less tax savings... Or have an office in London to handle European business. But again, pesky taxes get in the way.

I don't blame that at all for what they do, just don't lie to me Tim. That's all.

 

[sdz]

I hope the EU will **** up Apple really good...

EU should ban Apple products!
First of all they should investigate the App Store politics of Apple.

 

[zin]

It's 45% over £150k

What people need to remember is the more companies such as apple, amazon and starbucks etc avoid tax, the more we have to pay in our taxes to make up the shortfall. I'm really hoping the EU digs it teeth deep into apple and stops them avoiding local taxes via loop holes. I've no issues with them not paying US tax on earning in other countries, but they must pay tax on all earning in those local counties at the full weight of tax..

45% marginal, not effective. To pay 40% of what you earn, which is what the poster said, you would have to be earning around £350,000 (actually a little less if you have no deductions). The person you quoted is correct.

 

[RedOrchestra]

So Apple's success is entirely due to the US market?

More of the same nonsense thinking...

So the $94 Billion sitting in Ireland is entirely due to the Irish market?

More of the same nonsense thinking...

 

[Michael Scrip]

Apple is ONLY in Ireland to save on taxes. ONLY. Wouldn't be surprised if they have an office in the Cayman Islands too.... but that's probably totally legit as well.

If they're not breaking any laws.... why wouldn't they do it?