News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Apple Reports Third Quarter Results by Someone1234 on Tuesday July 22, 2014 @06:05PM (#8071845)
They off-shore most of their money (e.g. Ireland) to evade tax. It is legal but scummy.
Re:Apple Reports Third Quarter Results by thinkling on Tuesday July 22, 2014 @06:28PM (#8071945)
They don't "off-shore" their money in the sense of an active move out of the U.S. They earn money abroad and leave it abroad rather than pay tax to repatriate it to the US.
Re:Apple Reports Third Quarter Results by forrestthewoods on Tuesday July 22, 2014 @06:12PM (#8071871)
You mean tax avoidance. Tax evasion is illegal. What Apple does is, as you said, legal.
Re:Apple Reports Third Quarter Results by prawn on Wednesday July 23, 2014 @03:39AM (#8073288)
It's the vibe of the thing, your Honour (to borrow The Castle's way of assessing this sort of thing).
Re:Apple Reports Third Quarter Results by api on Tuesday July 22, 2014 @06:09PM (#8071856)
Nearly every large corporation does this.
Re:Apple Reports Third Quarter Results by sbuk on Wednesday July 23, 2014 @01:57AM (#8073103)
I'm still yet to hear why a US company should pay tax on revenues earned outside the US. This goes for Google and Microsoft too. What has the Federal Government done to earn the tax?
Re:Apple Reports Third Quarter Results by Moto7451 on Wednesday July 23, 2014 @03:59AM (#8073331)
A couple reasons come to mind (not all mine, nor do I necessarily agree with them):

For one, US citizens are expected to pay taxes on money they earn outside the US, even if they reside outside the country. This, in and of itself, rubs people the wrong way. In some cases, Canada comes to mind, your US taxes are reduced by what you paid to Canada. This isn't the case everywhere. The more people-like corporations become, depending on your politics, the more likely you are to feel like the tax law should treat individuals and corporations similarly. Yes, this ignores a lot of the actual economic realities of corporations, but feelings and politics be damned :).

Two, the fact that the corporations in question are housed in the US means that somewhere along the line, there is likely some sort of tax break, credit, loan, law, or incentive program that they've been given to advantage them. After all, what large corporation doesn't have lobbyists and large building projects that can get funding from state and local governments. Some industries get subsidies directly from the government (The oil industry's subsidy being a popular one for political bile). Additionally, like people, corporations benefit from functioning civil services, roads and highways, and the protection of the military. These are all things that cost money (and no, lobbying dollars aren't going to cover that :).

Lastly, if you're more socialist leaning you likely wouldn't mind seeing a social safety net of some kind like a universal government stipend. Large corporate profits seem like an ends to a means in terms of executing that. I don't think a majority of US citizens feel like that's a great plan, but I've heard it suggested by some very left leaning thinkers.