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Apple Will Start Paying Back Taxes to Irish Government Next Month

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Re: Apple Will Start Paying Back Taxes to Irish Government Next Month

#61

Post by ebbv »

stingrae wrote: post #26
noddy1 wrote: post #14

"Apple CEO Tim Cook previously called the decision "total political crap" " Fuck off asshole. Playing to the limits of tax law is fine, but acting outraged when it backfires on you is lame. You played, you lost, suck it up.

He and Apple was following the law. If Europe was so angry about Ireland's tax laws they should have stopped it from taking effect in the beginning.

> He and Apple was following the law. If Europe was so angry about Ireland's tax laws they should have stopped it from taking effect in the beginning.

Ireland and Apple weren't following the law, that's the whole point of this.

Re: Apple Will Start Paying Back Taxes to Irish Government Next Month

#63

Post by AnthonyMouse »

throwaway2048 wrote: post #53
eitally wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting that this is true, because (at the state level, not federal) this is table stakes to lure large corporations to locate in one state over another. Just look at some of the pitches cities/states have been making to Amazon for their HQ2, or the Foxconn deal in Wisconsin. https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2018/02/05/foxc...

This is very negative behaviour in sum, because it becomes a race to the bottom where you either forgo all tax revenue, or you dont attract large companies. Its good the EU has rules in place to prevent this destructive behaviour.

> This is very negative behaviour in sum, because it becomes a race to the bottom where you either forgo all tax revenue, or you dont attract large companies.

It's not just that. The race to the bottom isn't really a thing because companies cost states money. They require the state to increase the resources they spend on transit capacity and emergency services etc. The only reason states want companies is because the amount of taxes they pay exceeds the amount of expenditures they require. So there is no race to have zero taxes, the competition is only to tax companies no more than the amount of government services they consume. Which isn't especially problematic.

The real problem is that if states make special rules for large companies, it gives them an advantage over smaller companies, which destroys local businesses in favor of international ones. Then next year some other place gives the huge company a better deal and the city is devastated because the company displaced a huge chunk of the local economy and now they're leaving and taking it with them.

If states want to compete by having low taxes, great. But nobody should be getting special treatment like that.

Re: Apple Will Start Paying Back Taxes to Irish Government Next Month

#64

Post by secfirstmd »

walshemj wrote: post #34
knolan wrote: post #32

The Government is putting the money in an escrow account until they figure out what to do[0]. The money would cover Ireland’s social welfare bill for a year which is a major cost to the Irish tax payer. [0] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu-apple-taxavoidance/ire...

Well I hope they will be sharing it prorata with the other eu members that lost :-)

I don't feel so guilty about this any more. We bailed out German, French and other bank bondholders for billions (that unlike TARP we will never see back) when we should have give them 50% haircuts. 18% of my countrymen now live abroad, far higher rates for young people - including way too many of my friends. Most of the reasons for our mistakes are entirely our own but the EU can bugger off if it thinks it should be able to set our tax rates - each citizen will be paying back debts because of their banks for decades - financially and at the human level.

Re: Apple Will Start Paying Back Taxes to Irish Government Next Month

#65

Post by opo »

knolan wrote: post #32

The Government is putting the money in an escrow account until they figure out what to do[0]. The money would cover Ireland’s social welfare bill for a year which is a major cost to the Irish tax payer. [0] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu-apple-taxavoidance/ire...

>...The Government is putting the money in an escrow account until they figure out what to do.

No, it looks like they are putting the money in escrow while both Apple and Ireland appeal the charge. From the original article:

>..As expected, the report states that Apple and the Irish government have reached an agreement to set up an escrow account to hold the money while both sides appeal the August 2016 ruling in Europe's highest court.

Re: Apple Will Start Paying Back Taxes to Irish Government Next Month

#66

Post by derriz »

dosycorp wrote: post #23
TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not Ireland trying to make Apple pay back-taxes! The European Commission is forcing Ireland to charge Apple them.

Come on. IE is not double dealing to the EU for a bit of kick back somehow? Of course they are. That EU is "forcing" them is hilarious. IE loves to play a fake victim if they can, and in this case, all the better to be open for business. "Oh, EU, please stop getting me to get Apple to pay me taxes. Please stop making me collect revenue." Said no state ever. But believe their fake victim tale if you want. The Irish ar…

I tried to ignore it but I cannot - this is a ugly comment. And for hackernews it's devoid of fact or even interesting opinion. It uses a familiar tactic commonly associated with bigots: don't agree that there's a global Zionist conspiracy to rule the world? - the Jews are clearly too clever for you. Don't believe that the Roma are immigrating en-mass with the plan to displace the natives? - the Gypsies are too clever for you. Rounded off with the suggestion that the Irish as a whole have obvious negative personality traits.

And your theory is as outlandish as any global Jewish conspiracy stuff. An entire nation of people from across the political and social spectrum have connived to defraud the rest of the world based on a sneaky tax-policy plan enacted over 3 decades ago which has survived 2 European treaties, 5 changes of government and requires the entirity of the "Irish" to be liars. It's an ugly comment with even uglier undertones.

Re: Apple Will Start Paying Back Taxes to Irish Government Next Month

#68

Post by IAmEveryone »

secfirstmd wrote: post #64
walshemj wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well I hope they will be sharing it prorata with the other eu members that lost :-)

I don't feel so guilty about this any more. We bailed out German, French and other bank bondholders for billions (that unlike TARP we will never see back) when we should have give them 50% haircuts. 18% of my countrymen now live abroad, far higher rates for young people - including way too many of my friends. Most of the reasons for our mistakes are entirely our own but the EU can bugger off if it thinks it should be…

I usually don't engage in this sort of trivial nationalism. But I just have to inject that your retelling of this story omits the fact that Irish banks were obviously first in line to go belly-up.

It is true that those banks had various lenders in Germany/France/wherever, and that the consequences of an all-out collapse of the Irish economy would have had negative effects in those countries as well.

But presenting it as some sort of altruistic sacrifice to allow them to rescue Ireland from a potato-based future is just adding moral bankruptcy to the other.

It's also frustrating to see such uninformed hatred, considering EU funding of 44.6 Billion Euros since 1976 was what essentially allowed an agrarian society to catch up with Western Europe in the first place.

Plus, obviously, a large fraction of those 18% of Irish living abroad are beneficiaries of the EU's open borders.

[0]: https://ec.europa.eu/ireland/about-us/impact-of-EU-membershi...

Re: Apple Will Start Paying Back Taxes to Irish Government Next Month

#69

Post by dang »

dosycorp wrote: post #23
TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not Ireland trying to make Apple pay back-taxes! The European Commission is forcing Ireland to charge Apple them.

Come on. IE is not double dealing to the EU for a bit of kick back somehow? Of course they are. That EU is "forcing" them is hilarious. IE loves to play a fake victim if they can, and in this case, all the better to be open for business. "Oh, EU, please stop getting me to get Apple to pay me taxes. Please stop making me collect revenue." Said no state ever. But believe their fake victim tale if you want. The Irish ar…

Nationalistic flamewars, which this crosses into, are definitely not ok on HN. Please don't post like this again, and avoid unsubstantive comments on divisive topics generally. This is in the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Apple Will Start Paying Back Taxes to Irish Government Next Month

#70

Post by dang »

noddy1 wrote: post #14

"Apple CEO Tim Cook previously called the decision "total political crap" " Fuck off asshole. Playing to the limits of tax law is fine, but acting outraged when it backfires on you is lame. You played, you lost, suck it up.

As other users have pointed out, this comment breaks the site guidelines. We've warned you about this before. Please (re-)read and follow them if you want to keep posting here: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.

Perhaps billionaires, big corps, political enemies, etc., don't deserve better from you, but the community you're participating in does. And its survival depends on users not burning it down.

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