Apple Walks Away From Multibillion Dollar Tax Obligation

[marmar]

via truthdig:



Apple Walks Away From Multibillion Dollar Tax Obligation
Posted on May 2, 2013


Apple will deprive the American public of $9 billion in U.S. taxes by paying shareholders with proceeds from a $17 billion blockbuster bond sale instead of using money it made abroad.

The company has $100 billion of offshore cash compared with $45 billion held within the country. Any cash brought within national borders from abroad would be subject to a 35 percent tax rate, lawyers and accountants say.

The tariff would have been incurred by a record-breaking return of $55 billion to its investors. ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/apple_walks_away_from_multibillion_dollar_tax_obligation_20130502/

[xchrom]

1. du rec. nt

[Newest Reality]

2. The fleecing

accelerates.

[xtraxritical]

33. Apple, overpriced bling for snobs.

[newfie11]

3. Disgusting Nt

[Le Taz Hot]

4. And I had to scrape

and I mean SCRAPE together $3,147 to pay to the U.S. government on April 15. I can't tell you the hardship that caused but I paid it. Why? Because I OWED payroll taxes. Must be nice to be too big to fail AND too big to pay taxes.

[Nye Bevan]

5. Apple is not breaking any laws here.

Don't blame Apple, blame the law. Do any DUers voluntarily pay more taxes than legally required?

[countmyvote4real]

6. +1

Thank you for that.

[marmar]

7. Most DUers don't borrow money to avoid paying from money we've got stashed in offshore accounts.

[newfie11]

9. +1

[Nye Bevan]

12. Probably because most DUers are not corporations.

I don't criticize DUers for benefiting from tax breaks that they are legally entitled to, however.

[joeglow3]

43. Sadly, I have found most DUers DO break the law to avoid taxes

Whenever I have discussed the fact that most states legally require you to pay use tax on online purchases, the vast majority have said it is BS and they won't pay it.

[tridim]

8. Apple uses public resources that WE pay for to make their massive profits.

We pay more because Apple doesn't pay their share.

I blame them, fucking assholes.

[harmonicon]

19. And just how does that make you pay more?

I'd like to know how you figure that one.

Also, Apple does pay their share, just like you pay your share and not any more.

I blame whoever taught both public school mathematics and government for your failure to understand. The bastards!! I bet they don't pay their fair share either, slimy weasels.

[tridim]

21. Do you really think it's cool that all these massive corporations barely have to pay any taxes?

Think about what you're defending here.

[harmonicon]

26. And you have to pay more how?

These corporations are responsible for alligator attacks!! Grrr. How?! THE CORPORATIONS!!! Fuck them.

[tridim]

29. They pay less (or none) we pay more. It's simple math.

[harmonicon]

30. I think you don't know how taxes and budgets work. (nt)

[Honeycombe8]

22. They are going by the law. We've discussed it before. The tax subsidies to corporations.

They're still there, and they're huge. And the corporations don't NEED them. So we subsidize corporations while whining about having to pay Social Security to practically homeless seniors.

[Dustlawyer]

27. That's because corporations own the politicians, they have good PR firms.

Old people have no PR firms, and do not own one politician. They have a few that still fight for them, true believers, but no ALEC to write them protections!

[Honeycombe8]

28. So true. This is the way of the world, isn't it? The fat cats get it all.

And I'm disappointed that Obama seems to be joining the chorus.

[A Little Weird]

31. That's the truth

It would be really nice to be represented by people who cared more about their fellow citizens than about getting richer.

[onehandle]

10. Exactly. And ultimately it's the voters fault. They picked Obama's opposition.

Tax the fuck out of the rich and rewrite corporate tax codes.

Even for Apple. An American company. Unlike Samsung.

[Loudestlib]

11. Don't blame them?

Who do you think lobbied to get those laws?

[harmonicon]

18. Yeah, where do jerks get off lobbying a representative congress for what is in their best interest?!

It just makes me want to march up to congress and demand things that are totally against my best interests. That'll show these bastards how it's done.

[MattBaggins]

39. No time for rest in the crusade for everything Apple

[cui bono]

42. Well you have to admit that lobbying is out of control and very lopsided

as to who gets heard. I can lobby my govt all I want but I'm not going to get the same results as those who use lobbying firms.

What the people want isn't getting represented. Look at the "defeat" of gun control legislation in the senate. The govt is supposed to get lobbied by the citizens, not the corporations. Corporations are not people.

[Loudestlib]

52. They are jerks

We claim to be a democratic republic but not everyone is represented equally. It's an injustice when those with more power use that power for their own benefit at a cost to others. You can cheerlead for those in power but I fight for the underdog. That's why I'm a Democrat.

[harmonicon]

53. I'm quite sure you've missed my point. (nt)

[Gore1FL]

14. Fair point

But I don't have a legal team of lawyers quite the size of Apples helping me avoid taxation through money games and exploitation of national and international loopholes to avoid paying a decent percentage of my tax burden.

[mountain grammy]

24. Well said!

[Honeycombe8]

25. Ultimately, it's the politicians who gave the tax susidies to corporations. Exxon and GE pay ZERO

in taxes, last I heard.

It's not just these corporations. It's all the large corporations. Our govt gives them large tax subsidies.

They also get paid more if they ship jobs out of the country.

I blame the politicians mainly. The average Republican is too stupid to catch on to these things. Seriously.

[aristocles]

15. +1

YES, thank you for that.

[harmonicon]

17. +1 (nt)

[corkhead]

34. They can afford better lobbyists to write those laws

[Logical]

44. LOL, Fan Boy I assume?

[Orrex]

13. Get a Mac

Isn't that always the answer?

[Whisp]

47. I have a Mac and I can still tell Apple to go fuck itself.

Just like I can tell my bank to go fuck themselves too.

I am not ready to go off the grid and live off of squirrels that I kill with my home made bow.

Poor argument you have - we are all hostage and have a right to not like it very much.

[KansDem]

16. How do I get one of these offshore accounts?

[harmonicon]

20. Do the majority of your business in another country.

You know, set up a business, expand that business to a point where you need to have offices all over the world. At that point it would probably make sense to have multiple accounts, in places where you've got these different branches of your business.

[onethatcares]

38. wouldn't it be easier to

just open a post office box in the Bahamas and claim that as my international office?

I wonder why no one else has thought of that great idea

[harmonicon]

40. Well, you'd actually have to incorporate there...

and the money that goes to that office would have to come from outside of the US, but you could do that too. If you think it's a good idea, go ahead and do it. No one's going to stop you.

[datasuspect]

23. is there an app for that?

[Coyotl]

32. NO PROBLEM: Just increase taxes on all those rich stock holders.

Or, better stated, restore the tax rates in place before the Republicans lowered taxes on themselves!

[Newest Reality]

35. Over who's dead body?

That's the problem. They are not going to let go without some major and intense opposition in a concentrated and cohesive movement.

The iron grasp of corporately-sponsored policy has its talons deeply imbedded in the infrastructure of our politics and economy.

We can wish and hope, but Apple, ALEC, et al, are not, at this stage, deeply moved, motivated or required to respond to the angst in the grim cadence of the vox populi.

Apple is merely flaunting the position they maintain and it smells of profit, tax evasion and gross exploitation of the workers who toil to make their model work -- a model built with a facade fashioned decades ago via injection into school system and at artistic cutting edge. The "feel good" special aura of Apple works and it really doesn't matter if they crucify frogs in the basement of their corporate lair ... I mean headquarters. That company is a Corporate Saint in a Utopian Tyranny.

[yodermon]

36. Something i've never quite understood: those foreign profits, were they taxed in their respective

countries? And if Apple repatriates those profits, would they be taxed again?

[Elwood P Dowd]

41. 56% of their sales are from Apple stores and other Apple dealers located in foreign countries

so I would assume they pay taxes in those countries also.

[joeglow3]

45. Yes and Yes

They pay taxes in country where the income was generated. Then, when they repatriate the money, they owe 35% in taxes. However, generally speaking, they geting a foreign tax credit equal to what they paid. Given that we have the highest corporate tax rate in the world, they end up paying 35% in total.

We are one of a select few countries that tax worldwide profits.

[blackspade]

37. GIANT SHOCK....not

[Whisp]

46. fuck you, Apple. and Jobs was an asshole.

why some people think that apple is 'left' is beyond me.

greedy fuckers just like all (of the most of) the rest.

[Elwood P Dowd]

48. Well, they have a gay CEO, Al Gore is a board member, they support gay marriage

so compared to a republican run company like Dell or HP they certainly couldn't be called a right wing company.

[Whisp]

49. greedy bastards are not all right wing. n/t

[Elwood P Dowd]

50. But the Apple hate group here on DU never points out the republican run companies like Dell & HP

even though they operate just like Apple or sometimes worse than Apple. The hate is ALWAYS directed at Apple. The hate should be directed towards Congress and The White House. Their legislation and regulations over the years are what allows these giant companies to do what they do. Apple didn't invent what's happening now in corporate America.

[Whisp]

51. because Dell and HP are a given for greedy bastards.

apple may not have invented but they sure are riding on the gravy train nonetheless.

fuck them all to hell, with Dell and with HP and all of them greedy fuckers.

I think you need a refresher course and Warren is willling to give you one.