Re:Apple now holding more cash than USA
by dpark on Friday July 29, 2011 @05:27PM
(#2823874)
You've changed the scenario. You're now talking about spending the money, which is wholly different from the scenario I described. In my scenario, money flowed but did not help the economy. In your scenario, you're assuming the $1000 was spent and then following the trail of its expenditure. But if the money is never spent, none of that revenue will ever get to the government.
I also think you might be wrong about the legality of a tax-free wealth transfer. According to this site, Romania has no gift tax.
And if we are extending the metaphor to wealthy individuals and corporations, they have plenty of people on staff to help avoid or minimize taxes. Ironically, I also read that Banks are specifically excluded from the VAT in Romania.
> Companies also pay taxes on investments or sunken costs, not only salaries. So if Apple brings home some of those billions, but acquires some U.S. company, than a lot of money will still go as taxes.
I'm pretty sure that's not the case. If Apple brings home those billions, they'll pay whatever taxes are owed for that profit. They won't pay extra if they then use the remaining money to buy up another company.
As for why Romania is doing better than Greece, I think it has a lot to do with the fact that Greece's debt is about 144% of its GDP while Romania's is about 34%.
Romania's revenue/expense ratio is also better than Greece's. There are probably a lot of reasons why Romania is doing better than Greece. It's not just because Romanians send money home to their families.
I also think you might be wrong about the legality of a tax-free wealth transfer. According to this site, Romania has no gift tax.
http://www.cfe-eutax.org/taxation/gift-tax/romania
And if we are extending the metaphor to wealthy individuals and corporations, they have plenty of people on staff to help avoid or minimize taxes. Ironically, I also read that Banks are specifically excluded from the VAT in Romania.
> Companies also pay taxes on investments or sunken costs, not only salaries. So if Apple brings home some of those billions, but acquires some U.S. company, than a lot of money will still go as taxes.
I'm pretty sure that's not the case. If Apple brings home those billions, they'll pay whatever taxes are owed for that profit. They won't pay extra if they then use the remaining money to buy up another company.
As for why Romania is doing better than Greece, I think it has a lot to do with the fact that Greece's debt is about 144% of its GDP while Romania's is about 34%.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/...
Romania's revenue/expense ratio is also better than Greece's. There are probably a lot of reasons why Romania is doing better than Greece. It's not just because Romanians send money home to their families.