141–150 of 205 posts
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Ireland allowed Apple a loophole where they were incorporated there, but non-resident, and therefore no tax. It was a sweetheart deal and Ireland got jobs and investment. The EU said no, wants the back tax to be paid.
Retroactive taxes and tax regulation? It's too bad the EU officials did not think about that loophole before it was abused.
I was talking to a teacher in management who worked with finance, he told me that tax havens will never get solved to this day. Every developed country has its own tax haven. Even if a country manages to ban banks from transferring money to a tax haven, businesses would move to other countries or find other loopholes. It's a race to the bottom. I guess the only thing that would solve the situation is a global agreeme…
http://www.oecd.org/tax/transparency/automaticexchangeofinfo...
I believe governments (some of them, starting in Europe...) may very well be on their way towards harmonised tax levels because there is just so much money they are missing out on and they know it. Ireland may be reaping most of the benefit as it stands right now, but it is probably clear that a slightly higher tax in Ireland and a slightly lower one in other European countries may well net Ireland more in the end anyway.
If large megacorporations will be as affected by this general trend as small business owners remains to be seen I guess - I'm not too optimistic about that.
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>More would be accomplished by protesting the government that allows certain loopholes. I'm not so sure about this as I'd question that it's possible for a single government to close loopholes on its own. Arguably yes, governments should be pressured into closing "certain loopholes", but not because this necessarily leads to a better outcome. >Apple is a public company with an obligation to its shareholders to make m…
> I'm not so sure about this as I'd question that it's possible for a single government to close loopholes on its own. That's the argument against signing global warming treaties, isn't it?
To those saying that Apple has a fiduciary obligation to maximize profits, shouldn't by that logic Apple respect the environment at the minimum required level by law? But on the contrary, Apple highlights in a lot of their presentation how green and environmentally conscious they are, going above and beyond what the laws require: https://www.apple.com/environment/ Maybe because today being seen environmentally consci…
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That's not true. Tax authorities in France already fined Apple a 400 million adjustment last year for tax avoidance in FY 2011 and 2013. After 2013 Apple changed their practices to be more obfuscated. http://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2016/11/24/le-fisc-fr...
'évasion fiscale' has to be tax evasion not tax avoidance which implies legally minimizing a tax bill which is what every rational organization and person does.
I was talking to a teacher in management who worked with finance, he told me that tax havens will never get solved to this day. Every developed country has its own tax haven. Even if a country manages to ban banks from transferring money to a tax haven, businesses would move to other countries or find other loopholes. It's a race to the bottom. I guess the only thing that would solve the situation is a global agreeme…
This is already starting to happen, see for example AEOI: http://www.oecd.org/tax/transparency/automaticexchangeofinfo... I believe governments (some of them, starting in Europe...) may very well be on their way towards harmonised tax levels because there is just so much money they are missing out on and they know it. Ireland may be reaping most of the benefit as it stands right now, but it is probably clear that a s…
Tax experts seem to be 10 steps ahead of legislators, not to mention lobbyists.
I really want to believe that tax havens could be solved, but if you think about it, it's a very hard problem and nobody has enough political capital to solve it. Even people who are in power have little interest in trying to improve the situation, and I doubt that voters would really give any damn, not to mention that there are many small businesses who already benefit from tax havens too.
I really respect this kind of activism. Fair taxation certainly isn't the sexiest topic to hold a protest about, but it is actually a huge fundamental issue for us today. Individuals, and Corporations we treat as legal individuals, produce value for our society in several ways, and paying taxes is one of them. When wealthy individuals or large corporations dodge taxes via off-shore firms, etc. they erode the basis of…
Does this sort of activism really help? I mean, this isn't an Apple-only issue and if Apple is obeying tax laws, then are they really going to consider paying more just because a small group of people chanted in one of their stores for a while? Even if Apple is breaking the law, isn't it worth putting up with a handful of activists for a few hours if it saves them millions in taxes and makes their investors happy? I…
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Wanted to comment that I think corporate shame is such a beautifully under-appreciated tool people should be leveraging more, and it absolutely is as much a pillar of the political process as the legislative branch. Bringing back a societal-enforced code of ethics punishable by humiliation and public shame with a defined path of atonement is what’s going to put all corporations back in line. It absolutely has dangers…
You say "shame the corporation", I say "caused a lot of retail workers to have a bad day and probably lose some much needed income".
These people are protesting against the wrong entity. Apple followed the tax laws at the time, so they should protest against their government for creating loopholes that can and always will be exploited by those with the resources to do so. Public companies have a fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders to maximize profits, which includes taking advantage of any and all available strategies to reduce their ta…
That does not automatically mean taking advantage of tax havens. Warren Buffett says Berkshire Hathway can save tax using such tax havens but he does not do it because its not the right thing to do.