“US Uncut, an organization that fights companies that try to avoid taxes, is planning to target Apple retail stores on June 4, protesting the company’s support of the Win America Campaign,” Josh Lowensohn reports for CNET.
“The group seeks to have Apple leave the WAC, which it claims is lobbying Congress for what would end up being a $4 billion tax cut for the company, as well as to cease other lobbying activities relating to ‘tax loopholes,'” Lowensohn reports.
“The WAC is supported by a number of other technology companies, including Microsoft, Google, and Adobe,” Lowensohn reports. “The group is currently lobbying for the Freedom to Invest Act of 2011, legislation introduced earlier this month that would temporarily lower taxes on American companies that sell goods and services abroad. That money could then be re-invested within the country, the drafters claim. Despite other companies’ involvement, Apple is the group’s main target for the ‘action day’ on June 4.”
Read more in the full article here.
Nutters. Apple pays about ~25% on their profits. Only in the US, do we tax foreign profits after they have ALREADY BEEN TAXED by a foreign country. Apple pays very little to lobby the gov’t, unlike other companies, so why are these numbnuts attacking Apple? Yep, it’s a way to get headlines.
Companies that try to avoid taxes are companies like Google, which shuttles its income thru Ireland so it can pay about 1%, and Amazon who will move jobs from a State that wants to collect sales taxes.
Google and Amazon are both right to do so, and as an Apple shareholder, I want Apple to follow suit.
-jcr
I agree with you John. I am also curious about something…if they are so strongly opposed against something, then would it stand to reason that they should also not use those products or services from that company? It seems that would be a conflict of interest on their part…~~protester standing outside an Apple Store~~”Yes, we are protesting against Apple…wait a second, is that the new MBP? I have to go check that out!”…Lol:)
An investor is to philanthropy as a murderer is to a surgeon.
Apple products are overpriced, investors are overpaid, and the people making the products are underpaid.
Think different? Looks like the same old slave-system to me. Those who do the least gain the most.
Regardless of what you think about this group or the proposed legislation, it always irks me to no end that these groups always choose to highlight Apple to their own selfish gain.
Agreed, but who else has such attention-getting properties in high profile locations all over the country? Where do you protest microsoft?
The dumpster?
Lololololol. Yes. The dumpster.
Regardless of what you think about the superior quality of Apple’s products, it always irks me to no end when any company fosters government corruption and exacts special government favors to further its own selfish gain.
Clueless. THAT irks me…
If Apple is the worst example of corporate corruption you can think of, my friend, then you are a world-class idiot. Either that or blind as a bat. Apple wouldn’t make the list of the worst 100 companies. I dount that it would make the list of the worst 1000. Some people!
How does Apple foster government corruption?
I would assume by contributing substantial sums of money to influence lawmakers to enact customized legislation that financially benefits the company. It can be one of the best investments a company can make, sometimes returning 1000-fold benefits.
The problem is that money owns the Government, not the people. Money largely owns the legal system, as well, but that is a topic for another day.
I do not blame the corporations for doing so, since it is legal. In fact, it is actually the duty of the corporation to maximize value to the shareholder. The problem is the convoluted laws. Simplify the tax code and zero-base all write-offs/loopholes. Then treat tax breaks like Constitutional amendments in the sense that they should have to pass over a very high bar of scrutiny before being enacted.
Agreed and well put!
As opposed to government furthering it’s own selfish gain?
Some great and informed posts – shocking on the holiday weekend Friday!
Indeed, corporations pay NO taxes in the US now. GE made 14 billion last year in profits, taxes paid in the US? 0$
They incorporate in Switzerland @ 15%. They’d have to pay 35%+ here, so who can blame them?
Cut the rates to a reasonable level. 10%. Then we’d GAIN BILLIONS here in the US, which = millions of jobs. What a bunch of hipster a-holes. Take your campaign and shove it up your iHoles™
EditDelete Report
“Corporations pay NO taxes in the US now.” ???? You seriously believe that. Sure, you can cherry pick a few notable multinational exceptions, but your statement is a bit exagerated. I run a corporation and can assure you that we pay taxes to the US gov. I pay tax on income, and then when I transfer that taxed profit into my ownership’s personal pocket, I pay income taxes on it a second time.
I agree with your second point. When the government restructures the corporate tax laws to be competitive on a global basis, then US will see more income and less business flight.
The ones that matter don’t. No offense, but if you’re paying corporate taxes here in the US, you’re not who I’m worried about…which should p*ss you off even more.
Why would we tax a corporation at all, ever? One thing the lefties can’t get through their pot muddled brains is that corporations don’t ever really pay the taxes. They just pass them on to their customers and hire fewer employees.
Excellent point… Let’s move to FairTax!
Agreed.
If companies make money in the states then should pay taxes here. Cut that loophole and
Tax revenue will increase.
On the flip side you should be taxed twice for income earned outside.
Guess US Uncircumcised is “pulling a Greenpeace”: targeting a minor offender with major marketability. Try looking up “Google” and “double irish” if you want to see who these asshats should be protesting.
Please do some research people. American corporations have a record $1.6 trillion in cash on hand. If they are spending it, it is on takeovers and stock buybacks. They are not spending it on expansion, hiring or other things that would help the economy.
Clearly they need to be taxed at higher rates to get the money flowing back in the economy. High speed rail and rapid transit would be a good start. So would education. Lets invest in the future.
“Clearly they need to be taxed at higher rates to get the money flowing back in the economy. ”
That is quite possibly the stupidest thing I’ve ever read in the comments on MDN, and you’ve got some serious competition.
-jcr
will refrain from name-calling, but why is it the people who want the government to dump more money into education are the the ones who are brainwashed into a narrow bias and can’t think for themselves? if you really thought for yourself, you might learn something new. real smart people know they can learn something new every day. people who think they are smart and think they already know everything are the most dangerous people we have. especially if they vote.
the US uncut movement is not against tax breaks per se. they are against anything that might impact their access to free government $ to fund high speed rail, education, and non-fossil based energy. so tax break takes money out of their pockets, or so their narrow/linear thinking minds are brainwashed to think.
the economy is multi-threaded and non-linear. it is more art than science. enriching rich people is the only sustainable way to grow the economy and make the lives of the impoverished a little better. you cannot just raise taxes until all poor people are rich. it does not work that way, although when you peel the onion, it is hard to understand what the liberals are thinking.
richard, why are corporations not spend their capital on expansion? it’s because it exposes them to higher taxes. they are loading their guns for when the expansion environment is more friendly. that’s what liberals don’t understand about rich people. they are already rich, they can sit. setting a tax trap for them is dellusional. these people have the gene to make money. they do not know how else to act. a smart government harnesses that rather than suppresses it. liberals only have the gene to take someone else’s money and spend it on instant gratification. in order to keep the gratification sustained, you have to repeat this over and over. that’s why just taxing rich people this one time is such a joke. what will we do next year?
kind of like buying a macbook pro i7 on credit when you have no job, thinking that you will be able to get someone who is working 2 jobs to make your payments.
Wow, you are such an open minded, creative thinker, I love how you follow your own advice of logically considering all alternatives, as long as they allow the rich to get richer and the poor to sod off and die. You are so fantastically independent and open minded! I worship your enormous intellect, and will never question your conclusions, arrived at as they are through only the most freethinking, unbrainwashed consideration.
Unless they’re gonna have topless chicks setting them a-swinging, no one is going to pay attention to these people.
I’m all for any person or organization taking any and all tax breaks they can get, at any time. Every dollar that stays in private hands is a dollar not spent on bloody mayhem.
I don’t know who these “US Uncut” assholes are, but fuck them, and anyone who agrees with them.
-jcr
“I don’t know who these “US Uncut” assholes are, but fuck them, and anyone who agrees with them.”
That is quite possibly the stupidest thing I’ve ever read in the comments on MDN, and you’ve got some serious competition.
Please come to my Apple store here in Jax Fl., I’ve got a little something for you to express my feelings on you’re ridiculous protest.
Could it be “Gator Aid” up there in JAX you’re offering?
They could pay a visit here down at our Apple Store in Palm Beach Gardens we’d give them a little of the same.
A little Gator Aid, a little Gator Chomp, A little Hurricane and a little Seminole salute Indian style.
An organization called “U.S. Uncut” sounds like a bunch of pricks.
Here is the situation: When the Congress enacted a moratorium on Internet taxes on Internet sales, they trampled on States Rights, a cornerstone of our republic. It was okay temporarily, during the infancy of e-commerce on the Internet, but now it is time to allow the States to enforce their laws.
I agree with all of you. No friggin taxes on anybody. Everything for free, put it on the credit card. Let those 5 year old idiots coming up pay for it all. Party one folks, them dumb kids will not know what hit them. 13 trillion and lets just double down. Them stupid kids can shove it. HAHA on them.
Apple’s always the high profile target. Just ask Greenpeace. They’ll tell you it gets them more attention for their cause if they attack Apple. that’s what they told me.
Apple’s always the high profile target. Just ask Greenpeace. They’ll tell you it gets them more attention for their cause if they attack Apple. that’s what they told me.
I have no idea how that posted twice.
To be honest, I really don’t have a problem with corporations not having to pay corporate income tax. I think it would be the smartest thing this country could do is to wave all corporate income tax! The amount of revenue generated from corporations that provide jobs will be a much greater benefit with the huge boost to the jobs that would be re-routed back to the US.
Better yet, the US government should provide a subsidy to every corporation doing business here, maybe 10% on top of every dollar they make. The cost of this subsidy will be more than paid for by all the jobs that it brings. It’s so simple. Why don’t the stupid politicians get it?
ah yes – the gullible who still believe that businesses can or do pay taxes. Businesses do not and never have *paid* taxes… they *collect* them from customers and pass them through to the thieves. But our congress critters can enjoy siting back and laughing at you as they take more and more of your money through methods like “taxes on business”. Guess what happens to the price of a product or service when “business taxes” go up? Wake up people and stop falling for the con game.
I don’t know, I think there are enough S-Corps and small businesses in the mix that do pay taxes especially professional service corporations, I know because I happen to own a couple. Perhaps a fairer solution to the problem Cut all corporate taxes to 10% with no write offs or tax breaks, weighted to 5% depending on job creation and investment in the US only. Tax at 15% off shore investments and outsourcing agreements with NAFTA being the exception to avoid job loss and broken promises of corporations looking to side step the tax system. Exemptions would be if a corporation set up a factory in a foreign land to produce goods for that country. Drop the rate to 3% for corporations that invest in public works projects, like improving mass transit, repairing roads, partnering with local utilities to improve the grid. Our tax code should also reward efficient use of capital and energy. If you are intent on keeping your process inefficient, consuming more natural resources and destroying the environment then your tax bill should reflect this by being greater.
I think you totally missed the point. Businesses DO NOT PAY TAXES – they are tax collectors so government can hide from being the villain. The “taxes” that businesses pay come directly out of the price the consumer pays for the product or service and the business just passes it along behind the scenes – from the consumer to the government but the stupid people don’t see who is really paying those taxes. If you have a business(es) and do not budget for expected taxes along with all other anticipated expenses and do not take those planned taxes into account in setting your prices then you aren’t much of a businessman. If you do, then you are well aware of the fact that you are not paying taxes but simply collecting them from the rubes and handing them over to the government.
@ a real tax-payer
I think you aren’t substantiating your point. Businesses DO PAY TAXES. They obviously charge taxes, such as sales tax, which they pass along to the customer directly. Just like individuals, they have to make enough money to be profitable after their operating, capital costs, and tax liabilities. That doesn’t mean they don’t pay taxes. That’s a silly, deliberately inflammatory statement to make. If your point would be that prices would be lower if businesses didn’t have to pay taxes themselves, that’s certainly true, but the government would have to raise taxes on individuals to make up the difference. Government services people expect and rely on cost money. It has to come from somewhere. Besides, if we didn’t tax businesses, the left would completely freak out, and it would fuel the “evil corporations and rich people screwing over the common person” conspiracy theories.
Huh?
S corporations AVOID corporate income tax. Profit (and loss) is passed on to the shareholders as income.
In a “real corporation: profit is taxed at the corporate level, then dividends are taxed again for the shareholders.
The whole point of the S corporation is that it avoids this double taxation.
EVERYBODY games the systems presented to them…it’s basic human nature.
To expect otherwise is what is stupid.
I am for anything that keeps profits in the hands of those who produce them.
It appears that there is a growing number of those in green spandex that believe in bigger government and redistribution of entitlement money. Any further loss of equilibrium and common sense will accelerate expatriation of corporate employers and jobs overseas. The snowball is accelerating …
Interesting. Corporations fight to have the rights of an individual citizen but don’t want to pay the taxes that a citizen does under the theory that they are not individuals.
1) Corporations use common goverment services such as roads, airways and protective services (police, fire, military) to run their businesses therefore they have to be taxed their share.
2) Corporations are not reinvesting their money here in this country if they can help it (Apple included). Therefore they must be taxed for the hardship they cause to residents of this country for unpatriotic business models.
3) Large corporations are making a point of lowering the living standard of the average worker as part of a business model that rewards stock holders for the suffering of their fellow citizens. If callousness isn’t going away anytime soon the government must do what it can to alleviate suffering.
4) People must spend carefully and buy products that support this country not China or some other place just to save a dollar unless they can’t help it. Walking into WalMart is walking into another country. Reward US companies for good work not cheapness.
5) A patriot pays their fair share of taxes for the health of their country and fellow citizens. Anyone who doesn’t want to contribute to the health of their country is a selfish narcissist at best, a psychotic at worst.
wow – if you aren’t a genuine tenured professor at an Ivy League university or a union worker you should be – I haven’t seen that much stupidity in a long time (and there is a LOT of it running around loose – mostly in the government)
1) yep – no correlation between use and charge – just “tax”. why not put their utility bills in the same category? Under your theory a business would pay it’s electricity bill based on its profits. If they get services them charge directly for the service – break it down!
2) awwwww let’s have a pity party. They are not investing their money where you want them to but where they might make the most money in return. That is what a business is supposed to do. But you have set yourself up as arbiter of who deserves what. Feel free to give *your* money to whoever you want but you do not control mine.
3) If salaries are not going down (and they aren’t) then the only thing driving the living standard down would be the increase in money supply and inflation – driven by the crooks in the halls of Congress! Yes jobs are being lost but not because of businesses but because of government decisions.
4) You *must* buy from the “chosen” people. Forget your own best interest. Sorry charley but when I go to buy a product I judge it on quality. Two identical products? I see absolutely no reason to pay the “welfare differential” which is all a higher price would be. News flash – bring out a better product or one at a lower cost and you have my business. Of course it is much easier to whine and complain and demand to be supported – the dole is a great place to be, sure beats working for a living (see union labor for more details).
5) And we sum it all up with your definitions of who patriots are and name calling. Do it my way or else you are scum. Want to see a narcissist? look in the nearest mirror!
You went 0 for 5 in your mentally unhinged tirade there.
If the system you claim to advocate is what you actually want… go for it! There are lots of countries in the world who run systems like you advocaate. Get the hell out and leave those of willing to work hard and who have a sense of personal worth and ethics have our own system – the only one that has ever worked (see all the failed communist and socialist countries). When there are 10 Chinese restaurants on the block and one Italian restaurant there is no excuse for you to try to destroy the Italian one because you prefer Chinese – put your money (and life) where your mouth is Karl – go try out your system somewhere else and stop trying to be a Giant Leech here.
Giant Salamander makes a few valid points that you glibly dismiss from your opposing perspective.
Starting with the most obvious fallacy in your argument, GS echoed a valid point that I have made before – citizens and corporations must be willing to pay the taxes needed to “pay as you go” for services. I strongly advocate constraint in spending, but we must pay for the services that we consume. I do not like paying taxes, but I feel that it is my duty to contribute my fair share. The infrastructure in this country is disintegrating because of inadequate maintenance, and corporations are deserting like rats seeking sweatshop labor rates and lax environmental standards. It will come back to haunt everyone in the long term. Tax cut and pray does not work if the tax rates are already near the “sweet spot” balancing revenues and growth.
That fallacy is closely followed, if not exceeded, by your complaint regarding name calling. Who said “either you are with me or against me?” Who had the gall to pass an un-American piece of legislation and call it the “Patriot Act?” I am sick and tired of that type of hypocrisy. Grow up! Nothing is as one-sided as you or others attempt to paint it. There is room for reason and compromise, if your definition of compromise isn’t the GOP “everything that I want.”
back to remedial reading class for work on comprehension for you I guess. Let’s take your straw man argument apart first…
I have no love for the Republicans or for the Democrats or whatever party you choose to imply. They are just the difference between which group of cronies get special treatment – tweedle dumb and tweedle dumber.
maybe I should have used smaller words in my first point – I did not say businesses – or anyone else – shouldn’t pay for services. Go back and read it slowly – I *tried* to imply that services used should be paid for with direct charges, not general “but it’s only faaaaaiir” based taxes. Yes, pay for the roads, the police and fire protection but not just general taxes simply because “it’s only fair” or “you make too much”. Does our infrastructure need upgrading? Damn right. Of course when I look at federal and state taxes like gas taxes I find that damn little of that money goes to the road and bridge maintenance it was supposedly destined for and instead goes right into the general fund to be spent on a general whim or on more vote buying (for both sets of clowns).
And your last argument… I take that attack as directly on Giant Leech because that is exactly what he said – anyone who doesn’t see it my way isn’t a patriot and is “a selfish narcissist at best, a psychotic at worst”.
If you really want growth and a booming economy remove the business tax in its entirety! Again – read carefully now – they are a fraud. Businesses collect the money from their customers in the price of their products or services and pass it along to the government in the form of “business taxes”. And the poor rubes never see this and demand businesses take even more from them to pass on. Drop all business taxes and watch the jobs not only come screaming back to the US but hordes of international companies setting up residence here in the US. The taxes from millions and millions of gainfully employed people working for these companies will far exceed the revenue. For both parties it isn’t about job creation, it is all about control and power. Reward our friends and punish our enemies is the name of the game for both parties. The choice between Reid and McConnell or between Pelosi and Boehner is simply a matter of which group of minions gets rewarded and who gets taxed to death. I personally strongly advocate a meritocracy and I can understand why you would not want to participate in that game. But I am willing to stand on my own two feet and pay for my own needs – be those services ones like fire and police (a necessary backup to being self armed) or ones we call “private” (controlled and subsidized by fed and state) like electricity and gas. Give me competition and I will make my own choices. But I insist on *choices* and real competition not being dictated to by those filthy evil people whose ONLY argument rests on the most vile F- word ever devised… “But it’s only FAIR”.
They’re just stealing a page from the Greenpeace playbook.
Find the highest profile target possible and go after it.
Who cares that GE, Pfizer, DuPont, etc. pay zero or next to zero in taxes? Apparently no one.
Hahah that group is f’n retarded. Every country in the world that knows how to make money, does this by exporting goods and services. Do they live in a hole? Or in a colony where they all dress alike and rape their sisters to procreate, and never deal with Outsiders?? Selling goods and services out of a persons country is a bonus, sell of the extra “” surplus”” as we call it in civilized countries, rather then have the “surplus” collect dust on a shelf. If America wants to continue its ignorant and blissful path into a worse ” economic downturn” , please follow twiddle dee and his disciples of this stupid cult.
I admit I am not a profit. I am not a scholar in export/imports or taxes or anything in the financial world, but it doesnt take an edumacation to know this to be true. I think anyone in that lobbying group should be bannned from all apple stores, and not allowed to purchase, rent, own, touch, caress or look at an apple product. they dont deserve it. they arent just lame, but theyre also hurting your economy with their poison. send them to M$ 😉
Fredo, you are spot on. As a AAPLshareholder for years and a Mac user for over 25 years I think that AAPL should pay their fair share. Not more not less but whatever is legal. Unfortunately most on this site are fanboys who live in mom’s basement and don’t pay taxes. Apple is no different than MSFT or GOOG from the perspective of making money. They are in business to make as much money as possible. Any way they can. AAPL will run over you just like any other company and think nothing of it. They have their interests at heart not yours. And that’s ok with me. I’m an adult and do not consider AAPL my best buddy. They make great products and think ahead for one reason and one reason only, money. For the knuckleheads on this site that think AAPL is their BFF, get a dog.
I’m all for anything that destroys The Corporate Oligarchy.
However, targeting Apple is missing the mark by wide margin. US Uncut needs to check its Coherence Quotient. It’s currently close to zero.