Tim O'Reilly's Reflections on Apple's Tax Avoidance Tactics

Re:Tim O'Reilly's Reflections on Apple's Tax Avoidance Tactics by brackishlake on Sunday April 29, 2012 @03:26PM (#3906779)

I'd love to hear about a PERSON who routinely went out of their way to overpay for a service. When was the last time you arrived at a store, saw a shirt, and said, "I'd like to pay you an extra $10 for this shirt because I believe in what you're doing."

Never.

For that matter, when was the last time you called up the IRS and said, "Dammit America, you're doing such a good job, I'm sending an extra $5,000."

Never. In fact, the most you or I have ever given extra is the $3 election fund.

Let's stop joking around, people. Companies, like people, are going to find ways to pay as little as possible, so long as it's legal. Let's stop blaming Apple and blame ourselves: reform the tax code to be simple, fair, and progressive.

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Re:Tim O'Reilly's Reflections on Apple's Tax Avoidance Tactics by Lewton on Sunday April 29, 2012 @03:40PM (#3906823)

Ever heard of tipping?

Also, I am willing to pay more than required for products that I am particularly keen on, which is why I'm such a fan of Kickstarter

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Re:Tim O'Reilly's Reflections on Apple's Tax Avoidance Tactics by vacri on Sunday April 29, 2012 @06:39PM (#3907339)

I'd love to hear about a PERSON who routinely funnels their income tax through a different country so that they pay less tax, despite not really living or doing much business there, nor stamping Designed In Different Country on everything they make.

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Re:Tim O'Reilly's Reflections on Apple's Tax Avoidance Tactics by dap on Sunday April 29, 2012 @11:40PM (#3907922)

You can't legally do that. That's an important difference. But you can do other things to reduce your tax burden, and people do hire tax professionals to do that. H&R Block even has a "Maximum Refund Guarantee".

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Re:Tim O'Reilly's Reflections on Apple's Tax Avoidance Tactics by josephcooney on Sunday April 29, 2012 @06:42PM (#3907348)

I've overpaid for goods and services that I thought were exceptionally good.

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Re:Tim O'Reilly's Reflections on Apple's Tax Avoidance Tactics by skore on Sunday April 29, 2012 @07:14PM (#3907429)

Just off the top of my head - I frequently pay more than is asked on Bandcamp and Humble Bundle. I once paid $20 for an mp3 of a song to its artist, even though it was readily available on youtube.

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Re:Tim O'Reilly's Reflections on Apple's Tax Avoidance Tactics by drieddust on Sunday April 29, 2012 @10:43PM (#3907812)

HP under its founder's leadership did this by ignoring deductions.

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Re:Tim O'Reilly's Reflections on Apple's Tax Avoidance Tactics by dangrossman on Sunday April 29, 2012 @07:29PM (#3907452)

Actually, I've done both. I purposely overpay a local restaurant that seems to be struggling and told them they should charge more. This isn't tipping a waiter, I get takeout and tip the store itself. And I've paid extra federal income taxes for several years by purposefully failing to take some deductions I'm entitled to and could easily substantiate.

This year I purposefully overpaid my business privilege tax to the township as well, and paid a special zoning fee for having a home office that I know my neighbors (who also have home offices) don't bother reporting and paying. I also donate money exclusively to organizations that are not registered charities even though donating the same money to a charity would net me cash back in taxes.

90% of people may rarely go out of their way to pay more than they have to, but it's not unheard of.

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