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How Apple sidestepped a 2013 crackdown on its Irish tax practices

bbc.co.uk

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Re: How Apple sidestepped a 2013 crackdown on its Irish tax practices

#11

Post by glenstein »

canuckintime wrote: post #4
rrggrr wrote: post #2

If passed, and for a brief period of time, Trump's dollar repatriation tax scheme brings home some of the +2 trillion dollars sequestered abroad - including some of the billions Apple has parked offshore. http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-gop-tax-reform-plan-bil... There's something to be said for Apple's efforts to level the playing field against the favorable tax & public policies under which Samsung and Huawei…

Or the US Congress could just change the law, close the loophole and require corporations to bring the money home anyway without any tax holidays...

Exactly. And it avoids the problem of losing tax revenue by creating an expectation of additional future tax holidays at regular intervals, incentivizing people to keep untaxed money offshore.

Re: How Apple sidestepped a 2013 crackdown on its Irish tax practices

#12

Post by mgkimsal »

aaron-lebo wrote: post #3

Steve Jobs: What if the computer was a beautiful object? Something you wanted to look at and have in your home. And what if instead of it being in the right hands, it was in everyone's hands? John Sculley: We'd be talking about the most tectonic shift in the status quo since... Steve Jobs: ...ever. Wonder if Sorkin could make a $1,000 phone and tax avoidance sound good? When did Apple change from being about the aver…

> this past weekend

Just this past weekend? Really?

Re: How Apple sidestepped a 2013 crackdown on its Irish tax practices

#13

Post by colemannugent »

komali2 wrote: post #5

If you unplugged Apple's board (or given decision-making apparatus) and plugged in a (currently nonexistent) AI with the parameter "Maximize Profit," would you see a different result? I think not. I think we'd see things far more morally horrifying, in fact, with just enough PR makeup to ensure "maximized profit." Unsure why we laud capitalism and then act horrified at the result. Here in America we've made our decis…

I see your point about the bad side of capitalism, but consider that this kind of abuse is only possible because the governments allow it.

No economic system can live up to its design when corrupt governments interfere with it.

Re: How Apple sidestepped a 2013 crackdown on its Irish tax practices

#15

Post by whatok »

nautilus12 wrote: post #8
rrggrr wrote: post #2

If passed, and for a brief period of time, Trump's dollar repatriation tax scheme brings home some of the +2 trillion dollars sequestered abroad - including some of the billions Apple has parked offshore. http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-gop-tax-reform-plan-bil... There's something to be said for Apple's efforts to level the playing field against the favorable tax & public policies under which Samsung and Huawei…

So you are saying that rather than taxing the middle class more that we should simply make large corporations like Apple actually follow the existing tax laws? Owing to its source it doesn't sound like this idea is going to be popular on hacker news, in spite of its blatant rationality.

Pretty sure Apple is following existing tax laws.

Re: How Apple sidestepped a 2013 crackdown on its Irish tax practices

#17

Post by glenstein »

mistercow wrote: post #7
canuckintime wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or the US Congress could just change the law, close the loophole and require corporations to bring the money home anyway without any tax holidays...

I'm always skeptical when someone precedes "close the loophole" with the word "just", especially when the entity searching for loopholes has hundreds of billions of dollars in cash. Closing loopholes is good, but they'll almost certainly find another one.

I think once a loophole has been identified, it becomes a "just." But you are right that the trickier problem is with the more fundamental process of constantly searching for loopholes. If only we could "just" close that one, too.

Re: How Apple sidestepped a 2013 crackdown on its Irish tax practices

#19

Post by JumpCrisscross »

nautilus12 wrote: post #8
rrggrr wrote: post #2

If passed, and for a brief period of time, Trump's dollar repatriation tax scheme brings home some of the +2 trillion dollars sequestered abroad - including some of the billions Apple has parked offshore. http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-gop-tax-reform-plan-bil... There's something to be said for Apple's efforts to level the playing field against the favorable tax & public policies under which Samsung and Huawei…

So you are saying that rather than taxing the middle class more that we should simply make large corporations like Apple actually follow the existing tax laws? Owing to its source it doesn't sound like this idea is going to be popular on hacker news, in spite of its blatant rationality.

> we should simply make large corporations like Apple actually follow the existing tax laws

Apple is in compliance with our tax laws. The laws, not Apple, are the underlying problem.

Re: How Apple sidestepped a 2013 crackdown on its Irish tax practices

#20

Post by jakozaur »

Maybe developed countries should agree on minimal profit tax for multinationals?

E.g. 10% of profits for companies that have revenue larger than X mln / year?

Right now it's race to bottom and there will be another loophole. So much of energy of smart people goes to tax minimization instead of finding a useful way to reinvest those money.

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