Re:Paradise Papers: Dear Tim Cook
by TrinaryWorksToo on Wednesday November 08, 2017 @08:05AM
(#15651973)
Think about it this way, if I had an objectively better phone than the iPhone I would go out of business because Apple keeps more of their money in dishonest tax schemes. They hurt innovation. And that money is supposed to go to governments to use, which it doesn't, hampering the ability for others to thrive. Now there's is less competition
[ Parent
| on HN ]
> I had an objectively better phone than the iPhone I would go out of business because Apple keeps more of their money in dishonest tax schemes.
why would that happen? unless apple uses their tax dodged profits to directly prevent you from operating, which would be illegal to do in the first place.
Re:Paradise Papers: Dear Tim Cook
by TrinaryWorksToo on Wednesday November 08, 2017 @10:47AM
(#15653542)
It wouldn't have to be direct to have an effect. If their reduced taxes causes education to be underfunded, I cannot hire enough talented engineers, for example.
Apple is the biggest taxpayer in the world. It pays every bit of tax it owes. It should be taxed less, not more. Corporate income taxes are corrosive to maintaining our society.
Re:Paradise Papers: Dear Tim Cook
by TrinaryWorksToo on Wednesday November 08, 2017 @10:49AM
(#15653563)
I'm not going to argue whether or not it pays all the taxes it owes. I'm pointing out that if they have access to offshore accounts that most businesses can't, they gain an unfair advantage over those other businesses. If you want to remove corporate income taxes, it should happen at the same time, not selectively to larger corporations.
They don't "have access to offshore accounts that most businesses don't". They naturally earn most of their profits internationally, and pay taxes to the countries they earn those profits in. If they return those international profits to the US, they'll lose another 40%+ to taxes (closer to 60% if you count individual dividend taxes).
So they keep the remaining profits in the lowest tax country/location they can find while it earns interest. They owe Germany nothing more.