Win for Apple as EU Backs Down on Digital Services Tax

[breenmask]

Yeah I love it too

I think that's pretty clear. Hence, I pointed it out.

 

[Shirasaki]

I think that's pretty clear. Hence, I pointed it out.

And I don’t want to hide it so I make it pretty clear. Glad I got the point across.

 

[breenmask]

Glad I got the point across.

I'm not sure if you understand that you've changed the argument to something I'm not talking about. But if that's what you want to do then that's not for me.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

In Apples world, if anyone want to monitize their custom base, they have to pay.

That’s everyone’s world, or have you not seen the commission rates across pretty much any industry you can think of? Apple didn’t dream up commissions on their own, they were already in place well before they launched the App Store. The MAIN thing they brought to the table was to slash the commission rate developers would have to pay, in some cases, by half of what they’d expect to pay at the time.

For every company that has a customer base, they have the option to monetize the base they’ve built. Commissions is the most common, but there are others, like profit sharing. The EU’s biggest problem is they allowed Apple to start doing business in the region in the first place. That includes taxes that Apple has to pay to the EU, that’s their “commission” to the EU. The EU just decided they wanted more money. Which is interesting because, while Apple has decreased their commission over time such that the vast majority of developers are only paying 15% (half of when the App Store was introduced), the EU RAISED their commission. Which they’re free to do, but, the law they wrote includes a clause where it comes into effect if the good/service is offered to at least three countries in the region. The vast majority of business Apple does is in France and Germany… so they can, in the future, sell JUST to those countries and let folks in the other countries figure out how to get the product to work in their region. It’s what they’re currently doing with the Apple Vision Pro.

 

[senttoschool]

EU citizens can just shop an android device. Hardly any inconvenience for many I guess, if Apple no longer sell devices most EU citizens can afford. Besides, a slight demand drop won’t be felt by either EU citizens or Apple.

What? This is a digital services tax? How does buying an Android save you from it?

Let's use some brain cells here.

 

[Shirasaki]

What? This is a digital services tax? How does buying an Android save you from it?

Let's use some brain cells here.

You mentioned the demand so I went to the assumption that you mention device demand. If you mean the service demand, it’s even less consequential if the demand only drops slightly.

 

[ozaz]

Digital services tax doesn't mean Apple will be paying it. It's the citizens of EU who will pay for it. When will people learn?

Big successful multinational corporations (like Apple) tend not to pay a fair rate of corporation tax (they use their multinational status to exploit international tax rules artificially lowering the profits they declare locally). This competitive advantage makes it easier for them to put smaller local companies (which do pay fair rate of corporation tax) out of business. End result is a reduction in the country's overall corporation tax income leading to need to raise tax revenues in other ways, e.g. by increasing income tax. So if governments don't find ways to make multinationals contribute more fairly, people will end up losing out anyway. Personally, I'd prefer products produced by big multinational corporations to become more expensive rather than my income tax being raised.