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Re:Why It's Safe for Founders to Be Nice (2015) by valuearb on Sunday August 20, 2017 @01:12PM (#15059207)
You are mixing tax deferral with tax rates, there are few meaningful deductions in the US corporate tax code, it tries to match actual profits to your tax obligation. But the US tax code only taxes corporations doing business in the US.

Apple's international subsidiaries net tens of billions in profits every year, after paying substantial taxes in their home countries. Those aren't taxable in the US until they are returned to the US. Since Apple would owe over 42% in income taxes to the state of California and the US government if they moved them, they keep them in Ireland instead. Which means they can't be paid as dividends to Apple shareholders.

The day Apple repatriates those profits they'll pay the full US corporate tax rate, which is currently one of the highest corporate tax rates in the free world. Then they'll pay the remainder as dividends, which will be taxed again at the shareholder level, for a total effective tax rate on those profits of over 50%. And that tax rate is not progressive, the little old grandma with apple stock in her savings pays the same rate as a billionaire.

The fact that it's only 11% of US income tax receipts is a great argument for abolishing corporate income taxes entirely. We can replace some of it by taxing dividends and capital gains at personal income rates (as long as capital gains are indexed to inflation). But the trillions of dollars in capital trapped overseas that will return to the US will more than fill the gap. And making the US a far more attractive place to invest, increasing our productivity and GDP growth. All of that will generate even more tax revenue.

People who think the corporate tax rate is fine or that corporations should pay even more are like a medieval tax collector complaining to the king that a farmer hasn't paid enough taxes. The king says, didn't they give us a third of their corn crop this year? Yes, says the tax collector, but they've saved a huge amount of seed-corn in their barn for next years planting, we should take a third of that too!

Re:Why It's Safe for Founders to Be Nice (2015) by Retric on Sunday August 20, 2017 @07:18PM (#15060737)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repatriation_tax_holiday

"In 2004, the United States Congress enacted such a tax holiday for U.S. multinational companies in the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 (AJCA)) section 965, allowing them to repatriate foreign profits to the United States at a 5.25% tax rate"

5.25% is a long way from 35%.

Re:Why It's Safe for Founders to Be Nice (2015) by valuearb on Sunday August 20, 2017 @11:28PM (#15061715)
That was a 1 year tax holiday. If it was still in affect Apple would have repatriated their overseas profits long ago.
Re:Why It's Safe for Founders to Be Nice (2015) by Retric on Monday August 21, 2017 @07:24AM (#15063700)
You only need one of those every 40 years until then the shock is simply worth more. Apple etc don't need that money it's simply in a holding pattern until their shareholders get it.
Re:Why It's Safe for Founders to Be Nice (2015) by valuearb on Tuesday August 22, 2017 @12:10AM (#15069627)
One tax holiday every 40 years doesn't overcome the disadvantage of super high corporate tax rates every year. Apple shareholders would have already reinvested most of that money in the US, instead its increasing Irelands productivity,
Re:Why It's Safe for Founders to Be Nice (2015) by Retric on Tuesday August 22, 2017 @10:58AM (#15073024)
That's a common misconception. The money can go to the US, it simply can't go to shareholders. Apple could for example have a subsidiary buy a lot of US treasury bonds.
Re:Why It's Safe for Founders to Be Nice (2015) by valuearb on Wednesday August 23, 2017 @10:46PM (#15087236)
And that subsidiary would also be more likely to put the equity investment portion of that money in US vs. International businesses if the income tax rates were lower.