Help me understand this. Why does the CEO of Apple have a responsibility to make his company less profitable by paying more taxes than it needs to?
Help me understand this. Why does the CEO of Apple have a responsibility to make his company less profitable by paying more taxes than it needs to?
Because you do.
Actually it is mostly the Fox News conservatives that are jumping down Apple's throat. They can't figure out how Apple is a successful big corporation since it doesn't make weapons or oil and they hate the fact that the company is headquartered in California and has a gay CEO.
We don't really care only if a rich conservative is running do we bring up the issue.
John McCain is a liberal now?
I am pro-business and anti-union.
But
What big companies do in America is immoral. They essentially bribe politicians to insert tax loopholes into the tax code for them. The net result is that big companies and many rich people pay close to zero in taxes.
Meanwhile middle class people who have kids in college and are flooded with medical bills have to pay 20-30% of their income in taxes.
It may be legal but its immoral. Yes campaign finance rules in this country are immoral and amount to what is essenytally a bribe.
The difference between corruption in America and corruption in the most other countries is that US politicians have found a way to legalize it and sanitize it. It is corrupt and immoral but its legal.
Jerrican wrote:
I am pro-business and anti-union.
But
What big companies do in America is immoral. They essentially bribe politicians to insert tax loopholes into the tax code for them. The net result is that big companies and many rich people pay close to zero in taxes.
Meanwhile middle class people who have kids in college and are flooded with medical bills have to pay 20-30% of their income in taxes.
It may be legal but its immoral. Yes campaign finance rules in this country are immoral and amount to what is essenytally a bribe.
The difference between corruption in America and corruption in the most other countries is that US politicians have found a way to legalize it and sanitize it. It is corrupt and immoral but its legal.
If it wasn't for those tax loopholes quite a few middle class Americans wouldn't have jobs or would be making quite a bit less.
Just to reiterate the previous poster's point, here's Sen. John McCain's opening statement to the Apple hearings:
"For years, Apple has opted to forgo fully contributing to the U.S. treasury and to American society by shifting profits and circumventing U.S. taxes...
...Apple is also one of the biggest tax avoiders in America...
...it is unacceptable that corporations like Apple are able to exploit tax loopholes to avoid paying billions in taxes...
...I will not allow that position to be used as an excuse to turn a blind eye to the highly questionable tax strategies used by Apple."
For those too young to remember, John McCain was the Republican candidate for president in 2008.
If it wasn't for those tax loopholes quite a few middle class Americans wouldn't have jobs or would be making quite a bit less.
This is a common talking point and is a lie perpatrated by those who have been bribed to vote for such tax loopholes.
All it does is allow companies to pile up their cash reserves which in turn makes their balance sheet look good which in turn sends their stock value higher. It has nothing to do with creating jobs.
During 2011 and 2012, American companies were making record profits. The stock market was surging yet companies were not hiring. Indeed many were laying off workers and teh unemployment rate remained stubbornly high
If it wasn't for those tax loopholes quite a few middle class Americans wouldn't have jobs or would be making quite a bit less.
This is a common talking point and is a lie perpatrated by those who have been bribed to vote for such tax loopholes.
All the tax loophoes accomplish is allow companies to make higher profits , pile up their cash reserves which in turn makes their balance sheet look good which in turn sends their stock value higher. It has nothing to do with creating jobs.
During 2011 and 2012, American companies were making record profits. The stock market was surging yet companies were not hiring. Indeed many were laying off workers and teh unemployment rate remained stubbornly high
Jerrican wrote:
I am pro-business and anti-union.
But
What big companies do in America is immoral. They essentially bribe politicians to insert tax loopholes into the tax code for them. The net result is that big companies and many rich people pay close to zero in taxes.
Meanwhile middle class people who have kids in college and are flooded with medical bills have to pay 20-30% of their income in taxes.
It may be legal but its immoral. Yes campaign finance rules in this country are immoral and amount to what is essenytally a bribe.
The difference between corruption in America and corruption in the most other countries is that US politicians have found a way to legalize it and sanitize it. It is corrupt and immoral but its legal.
Try not to choke on that bs.
We have a 74,000 page tax code.
While I agree that our govt and politicians are corrupt you can't blame a corporation from protecting its overseas profits from the thieves in DC.
The same people screaming about Exxon mobils extreme profit are the same ones collecting 200% of exmo profit per gallon in tax. That's just the federal end use tax.
The IRS has always been used as a political weapon and will continue to destroy wealth and economic expansion until it is disbanded.
You owe taxes or not. If you don't owe them, you don't pay them. Not paying taxes you don't owe is not "evading taxes."
If an individual pays less in taxes because of the mortgage interest deduction or charitable donations, that is not "evading taxes" or taking advantage of "loopholes." It's just paying what you owe and not more.
There are lots of things wrong with the US tax structure, and that's worth debating. However, it's not fair to knock anyone for choosing not to pay more than they owe. Paying more than you owe is a voluntary donation to the government, not payment of taxes.
The real question is why is the tax code set up so that the rich and powerful pay so little in taxes -- in many cases they pay none at all.
The answer is, of course, our political and judicial systems are completely corrupted by money. The rich and powerful control who becomes a congress person or a senator and then use their leverage to write proposed laws, including the tax laws. Which the legislators dutifully pass.
The other question is why people who do not own the senators like yourself are so reflexive in defending the rich and powerful who are screwing the rest of us over? Is it some kind of mental or emotional illness? Or are you just too easily duped by the purveyors of propaganda?
Non-wealthy bachelor runner wrote:
Help me understand this. Why does the CEO of Apple have a responsibility to make his company less profitable by paying more taxes than it needs to?
The liberal elites just want a story that will deflect criticism from the Obama scandals.
Since when does legal equal morally correct?
If Apple wants to benefit from having an American market, logic says it has a responisibility to put back into the system.
Try not to choke on that bs.
We have a 74,000 page tax code.
While I agree that our govt and politicians are corrupt you can't blame a corporation from protecting its overseas profits from the thieves in DC.
The same people screaming about Exxon mobils extreme profit are the same ones collecting 200% of exmo profit per gallon in tax. That's just the federal end use tax.
The IRS has always been used as a political weapon and will continue to destroy wealth and economic expansion until it is disbanded.
You've posted absolute bull sheet. Companies like Apple use loopholes to avoid ALL taxes not just overseas profits.
Secondly anyone who thinks the IRS can be disbanded has pretty much disqualified himself from being taken seriously. It is clownish to say the list.
The IRS serves a useful purpose. The problem is not the IRS. It is the political system that allows corruption of the IRS via tax loopholes for rich people and big companies.
Jerrican wrote:
Try not to choke on that bs.
We have a 74,000 page tax code.
While I agree that our govt and politicians are corrupt you can't blame a corporation from protecting its overseas profits from the thieves in DC.
The same people screaming about Exxon mobils extreme profit are the same ones collecting 200% of exmo profit per gallon in tax. That's just the federal end use tax.
The IRS has always been used as a political weapon and will continue to destroy wealth and economic expansion until it is disbanded.
You've posted absolute bull sheet. Companies like Apple use loopholes to avoid ALL taxes not just overseas profits.
Secondly anyone who thinks the IRS can be disbanded has pretty much disqualified himself from being taken seriously. It is clownish to say the list.
The IRS serves a useful purpose. The problem is not the IRS. It is the political system that allows corruption of the IRS via tax loopholes for rich people and big companies.
It isn't just the rich people or big companies. Look at the special interest tax loopholes, such as the mortgage interest deduction. Why exactly should the government be subsidizing housing in this way?
Just because something isn't illegal doesn't mean it's not dishonest or immoral. I think it's bad to be dishonest or immoral, so I think companies that evade taxes are bad.
Shown to not be a liberal thing.
There is a difference between legal and ethical.
There are many legal ways to gain advantages that are not considered ethical.
What they did was set up a shell company in Ireland that didn't have a tax residence status there or anywhere else.
They recorded international sales there to the tune of $44 billion in profits that normally would be subject to US corporate tax.
The ultimate beneficiary being American business men who utilized American infrastructure and all of the benefits that America has given them to be in a position to run a successful business leading to these great profits.
How would iPhones work without the satellites that the US taxpayers sent up there?
But they want to avoid as much as they can in paying back the system that created their wealth.
Sure it's legal but ...
It isn't just the rich people or big companies. Look at the special interest tax loopholes, such as the mortgage interest deduction. Why exactly should the government be subsidizing housing in this way?
People who own homes are not a special interest group.
Secondly Owning homes is actually good for the economy and actually helps create jobs.
Windfall profits for companies like Apple do not create jobs. Apple does not re-invest its massive profits in America. Much of that money is either stashed away or is invested overseas.