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evading taxes while calling for reform -- Tim is painting a brighter picture of himself all the time

"Do as I say, not as I do"
 
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Thus, IMO, the only reasonable approach is for companies to NOT pay taxes. Let individuals pay everything directly. We're paying it anyway... just in a hidden form. If we really saw the impact of taxes on our income I suspect that a vast majority of people would quickly revolt!

I want this to be satire so badly.
 
Seeing as the UK is the biggest market in Europe for Apple, Brexit is going to hurt both Apple and Ireland. No more making all your money in the big countries they paying a pittance of tax in a tiny country.
Apple, Starbucks, Google are all going to be forced to pay more in the UK now they won't be able to offshore their tax liabilities in places like Ireland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein etc. It's actually a pretty huge opportunity for the UK to both undermine the EU, promote business and increase tax revenue.
Source: Wife and MIL specialize in international tax and estate planning.

The EU's tax and economic structures are a mess and ripe for abuse.
 
Was he filming for his new comedy special?

Talk a good game, pay no tax, say its wrong and keep paying no tax.
 
The first thing that came to mind when I saw that photo of the four of them was, sadly, this:

23orb-superJumbo.jpg
 
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Ding! Ding! Ding!

THIS is the real answer!

Sadly, so few people in America (much less other parts of the world, under different forms of governance) understand this.

The word "fair" is not relevant and I seriously wish Tim (and other super-rich people) would stop using it. There is no such thing as a "Fair" tax! Taxation is about confiscation of wealth. Regardless of which country you live in, such confiscation is both necessary and proper to fund programs required for society at large such as Infrastructure, Defense, etc.

I would also suggest that there is no such thing as a corporation paying taxes. Again, regardless of the industry or location, when a company sells a widget, part of those proceeds are used to pay taxes. Where does that money come from? The CONSUMER of the widget. When individual citizens pay taxes it comes out of their pocket. I have no mechanism to pass on taxes to someone else.

Corporate taxes, like VAT, fuel tax, permits, etc. are nothing more than ways to hide the true cost of government from the governed.

Thus, IMO, the only reasonable approach is for companies to NOT pay taxes. Let individuals pay everything directly. We're paying it anyway... just in a hidden form. If we really saw the impact of taxes on our income I suspect that a vast majority of people would quickly revolt!
 
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Apple became one of the richest companies by dodging tax.

Now they want to make sure no one else can do the same.
 
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Apple "desperately" wants the system to be fair

Apple desperately wants every tax jurisdiction to be as “fair” as Ireland.
 
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Apple and Ireland stealing from British, French, German, Dutch, Spanish etc schools and hospitals every single day

By suppressing Apple’s tax bill Cook boosts the share price. Guess who gets paid a bonus based on the share price and guess who owns lots of Apple shares.
 



Tim Cook visited Ireland today to collect an award from Taoiseach Leo Varadkar for Apple's 40 years of investment in the country. Apple's CEO also met with Irish musician Hozier and Dublin-based game studio WarDucks.

In 2016, the European Commission found that Apple received illegal state aid from Ireland and forced the company to repay 13 billion euros in back taxes. Apple and Ireland are both appealing the ruling. Apple has previously expressed confidence that the ruling "will be overturned" by European courts.

Tim-Cook-Ireland-2020.jpg

In that regard, Cook today called for global corporate tax reform, telling Reuters and others that Apple "desperately" wants the system to be fair. "It's very complex to know how to tax a multinational," he added.

"I think logically everybody knows it needs to be rehauled, I would certainly be the last person to say that the current system or the past system was the perfect system. I'm hopeful and optimistic that they will find something," said Cook, referring to the intergovernmental economic organization OECD.


Update: IDA Ireland has issued a press release about Apple's award that includes a statement from Cook:Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Tim Cook Visits Ireland, Calls for Global Corporate Tax Reform [Updated]

Shameful Tim Cook is and apple.
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Was he filming for his new comedy special?

Talk a good game, pay no tax, say its wrong and keep paying no tax.

Yeah, it’s called screw the middle-class and poor...complete with laugh track.
 
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Notice how Cook never says he wants Apple to pay more tax, because of course he doesn’t!

Also, why would Ireland not want more tax revenue? It’s not like Apple can go anywhere else in the EU and pay less. Maybe they’ll go to a tax haven somewhere, but that would only invite further investigation and attention.
 
Notice how Cook never says he wants Apple to pay more tax, because of course he doesn’t!

Also, why would Ireland not want more tax revenue? It’s not like Apple can go anywhere else in the EU and pay less. Maybe they’ll go to a tax haven somewhere, but that would only invite further investigation and attention.
Well, people could boycott apple but they won’t, they will all complain but do nothing about it because they want they’re macs...kind of sad when people are addicted to a product.
 
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The word "fair" is not relevant and I seriously wish Tim (and other super-rich people) would stop using it. There is no such thing as a "Fair" tax! Taxation is about confiscation of wealth. Regardless of which country you live in, such confiscation is both necessary and proper to fund programs required for society at large such as Infrastructure, Defense, etc.

I would also suggest that there is no such thing as a corporation paying taxes. Again, regardless of the industry or location, when a company sells a widget, part of those proceeds are used to pay taxes. Where does that money come from? The CONSUMER of the widget. When individual citizens pay taxes it comes out of their pocket. I have no mechanism to pass on taxes to someone else.

Corporate taxes, like VAT, fuel tax, permits, etc. are nothing more than ways to hide the true cost of government from the governed.

Thus, IMO, the only reasonable approach is for companies to NOT pay taxes. Let individuals pay everything directly. We're paying it anyway... just in a hidden form. If we really saw the impact of taxes on our income I suspect that a vast majority of people would quickly revolt!
I really liked your first three paragraphs, especially the first paragraph, spot on. I don't like the conclusion though. The biggest way the ultra rich pay tax at all is via the companies they own, or own shares in, paying taxes.

As an aside, if you look at the last 50 or 60 years of financial history throughout the western world, taxes on companies and the top tax brackets on individuals have decreased bit by bit, decade by decade, year by year, and in the same time, government debt has risen and unemployment has risen. The "Great" America that the MAGA slogan appeals to, harks back to the 50's and 60's when well paid, secure jobs were abundant, when the average person didn't have to scratch around with 2 or 3 jobs just to pay the rent. This is also back when taxes were much higher, and the government had enough money to spend abundantly on all the things you mentioned in your first paragraph, thus creating abundant jobs, abundant wealth, and no massive government debt. Now we have the richest of society paying almost no tax, and the very rich are now ultra rich, while the number of poor people struggling to survive grows. The richest of us have been sucking up all the wealth and sucking the rest of us dry. The last thing we need is yet another decrease in tax. We need more tax, a lot more tax, so the government can spend it and get the economy humming again, and Make America (and everywhere) Great Again.
 
Imagine getting upset because a company tries to pay as little tax as possible, all legal of course. I guess if you guys want to run a business, you’ll not worry about lowering your expenses as much as possible? 🤷‍♂️
 
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You indirectly voted for those taxes to be implemented by voting in the government that created the taxes.
with how lopsided voting and electoral districts are in Canada not really depending on his location.
it was the east most notably ON and QC who basically decides elections regardless of the rest.
(its even worse when you look at senate seat distribution, its like they practically havent re-organized voting power since the formation of the country population changes be damned)

it would be like if the majority of the US voting power was decided by NYC and L.A not even by swing states.
similar to your guy's debate over EC but in many cases worse. :(
 
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I take it you are not aware how much tax EU employees pay then?

Can't be much. I hear you have free health care, free university, and free beer. What could they possibly need to tax for?
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Apple became one of the richest companies by dodging tax.

Now they want to make sure no one else can do the same.

I thought they made timely decisions to move into and out of markets with a competitive product.
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The word "fair" is not relevant and I seriously wish Tim (and other super-rich people) would stop using it. There is no such thing as a "Fair" tax! Taxation is about confiscation of wealth. Regardless of which country you live in, such confiscation is both necessary and proper to fund programs required for society at large such as Infrastructure, Defense, etc.

I would also suggest that there is no such thing as a corporation paying taxes. Again, regardless of the industry or location, when a company sells a widget, part of those proceeds are used to pay taxes. Where does that money come from? The CONSUMER of the widget. When individual citizens pay taxes it comes out of their pocket. I have no mechanism to pass on taxes to someone else.

Corporate taxes, like VAT, fuel tax, permits, etc. are nothing more than ways to hide the true cost of government from the governed.

Thus, IMO, the only reasonable approach is for companies to NOT pay taxes. Let individuals pay everything directly. We're paying it anyway... just in a hidden form. If we really saw the impact of taxes on our income I suspect that a vast majority of people would quickly revolt!

But like you say, fair isn't relevant. No one gets elected by promising to tax the people who will benefit directly. Either, because the tax rate would need to be astronomically high or the output would be unsatisfying low. Your idea seems to have the problem of indirectly lowering government spending. Are you suggesting we layoff government employees? How much do you think a soldier should take in pay cuts to keep their job?
 
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Stop with this. They paid everything they were required to. EU *changes* the rules, and wants Apple to retroactively pay according to new rules. Would you?

Apple may have paid everything that Ireland required, but Ireland was not meeting the terms of its membership in the EU. That's (at least part of) why the EU forced Ireland to collect back taxes from Apple. Ireland is not in a position to unilaterally build relationships independent of the EU's requirements.

Ireland was offering sweetheart deals to foreign businesses, collecting their favorable taxes, and not contributing back the the EU what the EU had been investing in Ireland. Ireland was not alone in not returning to the EU what the EU was due, but at least they made money in the process. The other PIIGS (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, and Spain) were not as successful at making money. The fact of the PIIGS and other less wealthy European nations are what ultimately led to BREXIT - and even there the Brits were foolish (I own a British passport, so don't assume I'm lashing out indiscriminately), because they, too, benefit from monies into and out of the EU. It was not like Britain was sending money to the EU and not getting anything back for it!
 
Well Timmy put your money where your mouth is, quit the tax avoidance (even if "legal"). Start paying the actual amount you should be, then preach. Set the example and perhaps others will follow. Of course they never will. Just another PR move to make people think they are the good guys.
 
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Anyone who supports higher "corporate taxes" should be forced into an Econ 101 Gulag. So dumb, so naive, and so counterproductive.

If you want to punish success and "stick it rich people", tax the executives, tax the salaries, tax the bonuses, tax the options, etc. The only thing that taxing "corporations" does is make things more expensive for consumers, and take money away from R&D.
 
Set the example and perhaps others will follow.

Is this a joke? You want Apple to pay more tax than they are legally obliged to, in the hope that everyone will copy them? I just want to check this is what you mean, because, if it is...well...it might just be the most ridiculous statement I have ever heard in all my years on this Earth. And that’s impressive.
 
Defenders like to say "If you don't like it, then change the laws". Fine. Then tell the corporations don't try to fight or lobby against the changes.
 
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