Apple's $348M Tax Settlement In Italy Bodes Ill For Google, Facebook, Microsoft
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Re: Apple's $348M Tax Settlement In Italy Bodes Ill For Google, Facebook, Microsoft
#2Forbes doesn't even work with an adblocker for the last couple weeks. If you want to hear about the actual settlement, here's a ReCode article: http://recode.net/2015/12/30/apple-to-pay-348-million-to-set...
Not sure if the article brings up the same discussion and conclusions as the Forbes one though.
Re: Apple's $348M Tax Settlement In Italy Bodes Ill For Google, Facebook, Microsoft
#3Apple 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 right countries.
Forbes has a good introduction: http://www.forbes.com/sites/leesheppard/2013/05/28/how-does-...
Re: Apple's $348M Tax Settlement In Italy Bodes Ill For Google, Facebook, Microsoft
#4Forbes doesn't even work with an adblocker for the last couple weeks. If you want to hear about the actual settlement, here's a ReCode article: http://recode.net/2015/12/30/apple-to-pay-348-million-to-set... Not sure if the article brings up the same discussion and conclusions as the Forbes one though.
Forbes is using the 'FuckAdblock' thing... so yes, it doesn't work when you're using Adblock. But if you install the FuckFuckAdblock extension, you should be able to see the article. Here's a link to the extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/fuckfuckadblock/hb...
Re: Apple's $348M Tax Settlement In Italy Bodes Ill For Google, Facebook, Microsoft
#5Forbes doesn't even work with an adblocker for the last couple weeks. If you want to hear about the actual settlement, here's a ReCode article: http://recode.net/2015/12/30/apple-to-pay-348-million-to-set... Not sure if the article brings up the same discussion and conclusions as the Forbes one though.
I'm using uBlock Origin and it works just fine.
Re: Apple's $348M Tax Settlement In Italy Bodes Ill For Google, Facebook, Microsoft
#6Forbes doesn't even work with an adblocker for the last couple weeks. If you want to hear about the actual settlement, here's a ReCode article: http://recode.net/2015/12/30/apple-to-pay-348-million-to-set... Not sure if the article brings up the same discussion and conclusions as the Forbes one though.
It's a test they're running so not all users with ad blockers will see it. You can get around it by setting the forbes_ab cookie to false before clicking continue.
Re: Apple's $348M Tax Settlement In Italy Bodes Ill For Google, Facebook, Microsoft
#7Forbes doesn't even work with an adblocker for the last couple weeks. If you want to hear about the actual settlement, here's a ReCode article: http://recode.net/2015/12/30/apple-to-pay-348-million-to-set... Not sure if the article brings up the same discussion and conclusions as the Forbes one though.
I'm using uBlock Origin and it works just fine.
Interesting. I'm using uBlock Origin 1.5.2 and the site refuses to load.
Re: Apple's $348M Tax Settlement In Italy Bodes Ill For Google, Facebook, Microsoft
#8It'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 up some good old nationalist fury.
What do you legally owe? It's undefined. Or more, defined by whether the country you are in likes you for PR reasons (Google is stealing our newspaper jobs!) * the skill of your lawyers. Great!
How about, we admit corporate income tax is a stupid idea, get rid of it, and raise capital gains taxes respectively (and dividends)? People have the great feature of being corporeal beings which live in a country, which makes them much easier to tax than ethereal corporations.
Of course there are rough edges to fix around overseas investors, but it could not possibly, in any world, be worse than the system we have today.
Re: Apple's $348M Tax Settlement In Italy Bodes Ill For Google, Facebook, Microsoft
#9It'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.
Re: Apple's $348M Tax Settlement In Italy Bodes Ill For Google, Facebook, Microsoft
#10It'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 than ~35%.
Where Apple is located is clear to me: Apple products say Cupertino and there's a gigantic new Cupertino headquarters in progress. Apple also has many subsidiary locations worldwide, and occupies real property, and hires real people; these locations should pay their respective country taxes.
Tim Cook and Apple have an opportunity and moral responsibility to help close these tax loopholes that are siphoning money out of the U.S., California, and Silicon Valley-- then do similarly with the EU and worldwide.
Specifically, the goal is to streamline tax codes to be more clear, more consistent, and more algorithmic. This would be unpopular with stockholders but it's the right thing to do for employees, customers, and countries.