Apple's $348M Tax Settlement In Italy Bodes Ill For Google, Facebook, Microsoft

Post by bpodgursky » Wed, Dec 30, 2015, 11:02 PM UTC

jph wrote: post #10

bpodgursky wrote: post #8

It's great how we're living in a world where tax codes are so idiotic and complex that it takes long lawsuits to figure out what tax is actually due. It's not about following the letter of the law; it's about following the letter of the law, avoiding the court of public opinion, and coughing up whatever is necessary to stop the complaints when some politician wants to distract people from their incompetence and whip…

What Apple owes is clear to me: pay the standard U.S. corporate tax on the standard U.S. profits. Do the same for all countries. The Apple problem is that its lawyers are deliberately avoiding using current tax codes, and instead essentially claiming that Apple is based in Ireland, then playing shell games with what counts as U.S. sales, U.S. profits, and also U.S. property. Apple ends up paying ~10% U.S. tax, rather…

Post by kmfrk » Wed, Dec 30, 2015, 11:03 PM UTC

Post by bryanlarsen » Wed, Dec 30, 2015, 11:09 PM UTC

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #12

jph wrote: post #3

Apple is doing the right thing by paying this to Italy. Next up (I hope) is a similar agreement regarding Apple, the U.S., and Ireland. The primary goal is to get Apple to pay each U.S. taxes on U.S. sales: when Apple sells an iPhone in the U.S, the profit should be realized in the U.S, not in Ireland in a Irish shell company. Then do the same for all other countries, so Apple pays fair taxes on fair profits to the r…

The primary goal is to get Apple to pay U.S. taxes on U.S. sales. The linked Forbes article is a great introduction, but unless I'm reading it wrong, it covers how Apple avoids US taxes on foreign sales, not US taxes on US sales. How exactly are they avoiding US taxes on US sales? The US practice of taxing entities (corporations and people) on their global income based on citizenship instead of residency is just stup…

Post by Oletros » Wed, Dec 30, 2015, 11:11 PM UTC

forrestthewoods wrote: post #9

bpodgursky wrote: post #8

It's great how we're living in a world where tax codes are so idiotic and complex that it takes long lawsuits to figure out what tax is actually due. It's not about following the letter of the law; it's about following the letter of the law, avoiding the court of public opinion, and coughing up whatever is necessary to stop the complaints when some politician wants to distract people from their incompetence and whip…

It's worse than that. Countries will make up taxes for foreign companies just because they can. Microsoft EU settlements being a prime example. Windows 7 N is one of the dumbest things ever. The whole situation makes a lot more sense if you view it as a tax.

Post by ThomPete » Wed, Dec 30, 2015, 11:13 PM UTC

bpodgursky wrote: post #11

jph wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What Apple owes is clear to me: pay the standard U.S. corporate tax on the standard U.S. profits. Do the same for all countries. The Apple problem is that its lawyers are deliberately avoiding using current tax codes, and instead essentially claiming that Apple is based in Ireland, then playing shell games with what counts as U.S. sales, U.S. profits, and also U.S. property. Apple ends up paying ~10% U.S. tax, rather…

No! No! No! What you legally owe in taxes, in a reasonable tax structure, has NOTHING to do with your moral compass. You should be able to plug numbers into a spreadsheet and get it. I'm not saying that taxes are bad. We need tax revenue. I get that. But there should NEVER, EVER, be two legally correct answers to how much you owe. The fact that you had to spend paragraphs making your case, makes mine -- when you reso…