Apple to donate to Australian bush fire relief efforts

AppleInsider

Apple will donate funds to ongoing relief efforts in Australia, where a dangerous combination of record temperatures, high winds and drought over the past two months set the stage for dozens of devastating bush fires.

Source: AP via NPR

Apple CEO Tim Cook in a tweet on Thursday extended sympathy to Australians impacted by the more than 100 fires that pock mark the landscape in New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia.

"Our hearts are with those impacted by the Australian bushfires and with the courageous volunteer force fighting the unprecedented blazes across the country-- please stay safe," Cook said in a tweet. "Apple will be donating to support relief efforts."

Cook did not specify how Apple will contribute, though the company has in the past donated funds to local non-profits and emergency service organizations during similar situations.

Australian firefighting agencies are currently battling a series of blazes across multiple states, a collective conflagration thought to be among the worst on record. The fires, sparked by extreme seasonal weather conditions, have destroyed towns, millions of acres of land and claimed the lives of at least nine people.

Australia's bush fires are taking a toll on local fauna, with recent reports estimating the decimation of some 30% of NSW's koala population.

The country declared a national emergency last week. Federal and state firefighters from the U.S. were sent to Australia to assist in quelling the wild fires this week.

Apple commonly responds to catastrophes and natural disasters with financial aid. In 2018 the company provided $1 million contributions for victims of the Kerala floods in India, relief efforts following the Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia, and Red Cross activity after the California wild fires and Hurricane Florence. Apple last donated to an emergency relief effort during this year's bout of California wild fires in October.

design_editor

Sadly, this is not the type of help Australia needs from Apple. The company pays virtually no tax on billions of dollars of revenue from sales of its products and services in Australia. The avoidance of its tax obligations means that the Government cannot provide services to its citizens and most recently had cut 10s of millions from its fire services in the most affected state of NSW. We don’t need billionaires
or corporations throwing pocket change at problems. They need to honor their social contract of paying its tax obligations.

StrangeDays

design_editor said:

Sadly, this is not the type of help Australia needs from Apple. The company pays virtually no tax on billions of dollars of revenue from sales of its products and services in Australia. The avoidance of its tax obligations means that the Government cannot provide services to its citizens and most recently had cut 10s of millions from its fire services in the most affected state of NSW. We don’t need billionaires
or corporations throwing pocket change at problems. They need to honor their social contract of paying its tax obligations.

Source? Article from earlier this year cites apple paying 30% tax rate in Australia:

https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/apple-s-aussie-profits-grew-but-its-tax-bill-went-down-20190125-p50tnx.html

macxpress

design_editor said:

Sadly, this is not the type of help Australia needs from Apple. The company pays virtually no tax on billions of dollars of revenue from sales of its products and services in Australia. The avoidance of its tax obligations means that the Government cannot provide services to its citizens and most recently had cut 10s of millions from its fire services in the most affected state of NSW. We don’t need billionaires
or corporations throwing pocket change at problems. They need to honor their social contract of paying its tax obligations.

Always someone to find negative in an article....Love the glass is always half empty approach of some people. 

Honestly, Apple could literally pay $10's of Billions of dollars in taxes in each country every year and people would still bitch about Apple avoids paying taxes. If Apple is avoiding taxes, then maybe the Government (not Apple) fix it! There's obviously loopholes your government can fix to avoid this if it is indeed true. 

entropys

pays virtually no tax on billions of dollars of revenue from sales of its products and services in Australia.

It is this ignorance of the difference between revenue and profit (indeed the constant conflation of the two, particularly on the ABC and Fairfax/Nine pubs) that is yet another simple demonstration of the appalling state of the education system in Australia today. The National Curriculum must die.

gatorguy

StrangeDays said:

design_editor said:

Sadly, this is not the type of help Australia needs from Apple. The company pays virtually no tax on billions of dollars of revenue from sales of its products and services in Australia. The avoidance of its tax obligations means that the Government cannot provide services to its citizens and most recently had cut 10s of millions from its fire services in the most affected state of NSW. We don’t need billionaires
or corporations throwing pocket change at problems. They need to honor their social contract of paying its tax obligations.

Source? Article from earlier this year cites apple paying 30% tax rate in Australia:

https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/apple-s-aussie-profits-grew-but-its-tax-bill-went-down-20190125-p50tnx.html

This would have been the more proper link as it's an Appleinsider article.
https://appleinsider.com/articles/19/01/25/apples-australian-tax-bill-falls-to-164m-despite-rising-profits

There's finally an international effort being made to address tax avoidance strategies undertaken by large multinational companies. Apple Australia for example, just like many other local subsidiaries of global corporations, pays a selling, general and administrative expense (referred to as SG&A) to its parent company which in Apple's case is currently located in the tax haven of Jersey off the French coast. That's one way it reduces its taxable income in the country where the sale occurred, and a really effective strategy employed by other big techs and pharma and not just Apple.

Now back to the topic....
First it was fires in the Amazon, and now in Australia.  Not a good year for the the forests and even millions in donation from big tech won't fix it. 

kimberly

design_editor said:

Sadly, this is not the type of help Australia needs from Apple. The company pays virtually no tax on billions of dollars of revenue from sales of its products and services in Australia. The avoidance of its tax obligations means that the Government cannot provide services to its citizens and most recently had cut 10s of millions from its fire services in the most affected state of NSW. We don’t need billionaires
or corporations throwing pocket change at problems. They need to honor their social contract of paying its tax obligations.

I rarely lash out at others post's but this is an exception. I'm Australian, and certainly not an Apple apologist, but this post is the biggest load of BS I've been unfortunate enough to read in a long while. I remember when Kerry Packer (richest Australian) was called to answer questions on his business affairs by a Parliamentary inquiry in the 1990s and this was his reply and I quote “I am not evading tax in any way, shape or form. Now of course I am minimising my tax and if anybody in this country doesn’t minimise their tax they want their heads read because, as a government, I can tell you you’re not spending it that well that we should be donating extra.”

steveau

design_editor said:

Sadly, this is not the type of help Australia needs from Apple. The company pays virtually no tax on billions of dollars of revenue from sales of its products and services in Australia. The avoidance of its tax obligations means that the Government cannot provide services to its citizens and most recently had cut 10s of millions from its fire services in the most affected state of NSW. We don’t need billionaires
or corporations throwing pocket change at problems. They need to honor their social contract of paying its tax obligations.

Facts: for the twelve months to September 29, 2018 Apple declared total sales of $9.08 billion in Australia and paid $164 million in tax leaving a net after-tax profit of $232 million. The Australian Tax Office will no doubt check these calculations very carefully, so we can assume that they are in accordance with Australian tax law. Opinion: good on'ya Apple, not only do you pay your taxes in Australia, you also donate to help us in an emergency AND you are doing a massive amount to make Apple an environmentally sustainable company. Now, if only our own government could do as much. PS: I've fought bush fires, to help save my own and my neighbours houses, and it is tough and dangerous work. Right now my thoughts are with the firefighters and BS about who pays what tax are an unnecessary distraction.

cy_starkman

pity apple has to do this,  simply because none of us australians can be bothered stopping work for a day or two to put the fires out.

biggest reason for the fires is not record temperatures, it is record no fucks given.

gatorguy

steveau said:

design_editor said:

Sadly, this is not the type of help Australia needs from Apple. The company pays virtually no tax on billions of dollars of revenue from sales of its products and services in Australia. The avoidance of its tax obligations means that the Government cannot provide services to its citizens and most recently had cut 10s of millions from its fire services in the most affected state of NSW. We don’t need billionaires
or corporations throwing pocket change at problems. They need to honor their social contract of paying its tax obligations.

Facts: for the twelve months to September 29, 2018 Apple declared total sales of $9.08 billion in Australia and paid $164 million in tax leaving a net after-tax profit of $232 million. 
PS: I've fought bush fires, to help save my own and my neighbours houses, and it is tough and dangerous work. Right now my thoughts are with the firefighters and BS about who pays what tax are an unnecessary distraction.

Apple in a race to the bottom, less than 5% profit on sales? I had always thought it much more profitable than that. 

Anyway one of our contracts is with Fire/Rescue services in one of the largest counties in our state. Tax receipts make a huge difference in basic equipment replacement cycles,  the building of stations in newly populated or expanding areas, replacing and adding ambulances and brush trucks and the like, and training/hiring.

Two years ago brush fires were a major problem in this area, destroying dozens of homes, and causing injury and loss of life. The fires went on for weeks with the fire services relying on decades-old patched up brush trucks to reach remote areas before they spread to populated ones. The county finally approved money in their budget to purchase a handful of new ones this year. 

A local city is having to go begging to the state this upcoming year for money to add a second engine so that firemen might have a chance to wash carcinogens off their gear before using it for another fire. Cancer is a major concern for firemen and that city has no tax money available to address it for at least 5 more years.

Too often the first responders seem to get short shrift. 

StrangeDays

gatorguy said:

StrangeDays said:

design_editor said:

Sadly, this is not the type of help Australia needs from Apple. The company pays virtually no tax on billions of dollars of revenue from sales of its products and services in Australia. The avoidance of its tax obligations means that the Government cannot provide services to its citizens and most recently had cut 10s of millions from its fire services in the most affected state of NSW. We don’t need billionaires
or corporations throwing pocket change at problems. They need to honor their social contract of paying its tax obligations.

Source? Article from earlier this year cites apple paying 30% tax rate in Australia:

https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/apple-s-aussie-profits-grew-but-its-tax-bill-went-down-20190125-p50tnx.html

This would have been the more proper link as it's an Appleinsider article.
https://appleinsider.com/articles/19/01/25/apples-australian-tax-bill-falls-to-164m-despite-rising-profits

OMG are you serious? Source me the rules on what the “more proper links” are on the internet. You have superiority issues for sure, dude. Whatever makes you feel special tho. 

gatorguy

StrangeDays said:

gatorguy said:

StrangeDays said:

design_editor said:

Sadly, this is not the type of help Australia needs from Apple. The company pays virtually no tax on billions of dollars of revenue from sales of its products and services in Australia. The avoidance of its tax obligations means that the Government cannot provide services to its citizens and most recently had cut 10s of millions from its fire services in the most affected state of NSW. We don’t need billionaires
or corporations throwing pocket change at problems. They need to honor their social contract of paying its tax obligations.

Source? Article from earlier this year cites apple paying 30% tax rate in Australia:

https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/apple-s-aussie-profits-grew-but-its-tax-bill-went-down-20190125-p50tnx.html

This would have been the more proper link as it's an Appleinsider article.
https://appleinsider.com/articles/19/01/25/apples-australian-tax-bill-falls-to-164m-despite-rising-profits

OMG are you serious? Source me the rules on what the “more proper links” are on the internet. You have superiority issues for sure, dude. Whatever makes you feel special tho. 

Because you're on the AppleInsider forum! Link AppleInsider articles if available rather than sending off-site. Support this forum.  Geesh sometimes I swear you act like you're daft, even tho I'm pretty sure you understand perfectly. 

runswithfork

Thanks Apple! It's been a devastating time, millions of dead wildlife, lives lost and millions of hectares of forest and bush turned too ash. I hope they put the donation in the hands of NGOs because this government is just standing by and watching it all burn. 

SpamSandwich

design_editor said:

Sadly, this is not the type of help Australia needs from Apple. The company pays virtually no tax on billions of dollars of revenue from sales of its products and services in Australia. The avoidance of its tax obligations means that the Government cannot provide services to its citizens and most recently had cut 10s of millions from its fire services in the most affected state of NSW. We don’t need billionaires
or corporations throwing pocket change at problems. They need to honor their social contract of paying its tax obligations.

That’s quite a reach in logic there in your pursuit to blame Apple for literally anything.