Activists stage 'die-ins' at French Apple stores to protest impact of tax avoidance on soc...

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The Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions and Citizen's Action -- or Attac for short -- staged "die-in" protests at two French Apple stores on Saturday, once again charging the company with exploiting loopholes to avoid paying its fair share of taxes.




Around 70 members participated in an action at the flagship Opera store in Paris, while another 45 protested at Apple's location in Aix-en-Provence, according to MacGeneration. The "die-ins" involved people laying on the ground inside and/or outside of the shops, as well as signs and banners.

"Legal or not, tax evasion is a scourge that plagues our democracies, greatly worsens deficits and serves as an argument for the weakening of public services and social protection," Attac said in a statement.

Some of the signs argued that all the French people have been victims of corporate tax evasion, since public services like schools can be deprived of proper funding and forced to cut back or be privatized.




Attac began its recent wave of pressure on Apple in December, launching protests at multiple stores. Apple in turn tried to sue the group for alleged damages and secure a three-year ban against future demonstrations, but this was denied when a court found that Apple couldn't identify any damages.

At the heart of the dispute is Apple's use of Irish loopholes to pay minimal taxes on international revenue, something the Irish government allegedly catered to in a manner violating E.U. law. In August 2016 the European Commission ordered Ireland to collect back taxes, but the country has been slow to collect the $18.6 billion from Apple, and both the iPhone maker and Ireland are staging appeals.

Proposed E.U. tax reforms could force Apple to start paying taxes in multiple European countries, rather than simply where its regional headquarters is located.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 79
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,267member
    The best money to spend is always, always Other Peoples’ Money (OPM).
    lmasantisteven n.tallest skilmacseekerrandominternetpersonMuntzzeus423anton zuykovjbdragonbshank
  • Reply 2 of 79
    netroxnetrox Posts: 1,482member
    They should be protesting to the government, it's the government that agreed to the deal. 
    SpamSandwichlmasantisteven n.NemWantallest skilrandominternetpersonMuntzanton zuykovgeorgie01jbdragon
  • Reply 3 of 79
    Why aren’t they staging these outside government offices? You know, the people that actually write the laws regarding taxes.
    steven n.tallest skilrandominternetpersonMuntzanton zuykovracerhomie3georgie01jbdragonbshankwilliamlondon
  • Reply 4 of 79
    polishpolish Posts: 25member
    Emotional blackmail is abuse.
    bloggerblogtallest skilmacseekeranton zuykovbshankcornchiptdknoxpscooter63watto_cobraairnerd
  • Reply 5 of 79
    viclauyycviclauyyc Posts: 849member
    Are they doing their famous surrender act?
    allmypeopledewmetallest skilMuntzzeus423anton zuykovradarthekatbshankcornchipMacPro
  • Reply 6 of 79
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,123member
    This is news to me!  Has Apple been avoiding taxes?  I thought Apple paid no more in taxes than it was legally obliged to do so!  Are these moochers expecting people to pay more than they are supposed to?

    Sounds to me like they should be protesting their government and demand whatever changes they need in tax laws.  
    Muntzracerhomie3jbdragonbshankwilliamlondonpscooter63watto_cobrajony0
  • Reply 7 of 79
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Why aren’t they staging these outside government offices? You know, the people that actually write the laws regarding taxes.
    That would be too easy. Every protestor should have their picture uploaded to an Apple database and they should be refused entry next time they approach the store.
    sdw2001Muntzradarthekatracerhomie3jbdragoncornchipwatto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 79
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,267member
    You, know, 8 April is th fifth anniversary of Margaret Thatchers death. The [simplified] quote I like best is

    The trouble with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money

    They are always after more. Moar!

    d_2tallest skilmacseekerzeus423racerhomie3SpamSandwichjbdragoncornchippte applewatto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 79
    steven n.steven n. Posts: 1,229member
    Why aren’t they staging these outside government offices? You know, the people that actually write the laws regarding taxes.
    Because those people give them free money. Don't bite the hand that feeds you.
    Muntzgeorgie01jbdragoncornchippte applewatto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 79
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • Reply 11 of 79
    sdw2001sdw2001 Posts: 18,027member
    Right, because people and corporations always voluntarily surrender more of their earnings to government.  What should they do...hire attorneys NOT to minimize their liability?  

    And really...a die in?  Because Apple legally avoiding a few billion in taxes KILLS people.  If that doesn’t explain the mentality of Statists I don’t know what does.  
    tallest skilrandominternetpersonMuntzradarthekatracerhomie3georgie01jbdragonpte applepscooter63watto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 79
    jkichlinejkichline Posts: 1,369member
    Oh yes because it’s Apple’s fault if you die. Give me a break. If Apple isn’t paying taxes, it’s government’s responsibility to revoke Apple’s license to sell. If not, then it’s up to the government to change or enforce the tax code.

    if I were Apple, I’d shut the stores and make their customers know why they did it... because of socialism and a government that does not communicate their tax code clearly.
    edited April 2018 allmypeopleMuntzjbdragonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 79
    bloggerblogbloggerblog Posts: 2,502member
    If I ran a country, I’d make it a haven to tax evasion.
    There are others ways to make money than the outdated mob-style tax enforcement.
    edited April 2018 georgie01jbdragonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 79
    smalmsmalm Posts: 677member
    Morons! Do it in front of the french parliament, where the tax laws were made...
    Muntzjbdragonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 79
    irelandireland Posts: 17,799member
    mercel said:
    Not only are the French a bit loopy, they’re hypocrites.  Tax cheating is a national sport in France. 
    That’s a wide brush you’re painting with. Comments closing in...
  • Reply 16 of 79
    monstrositymonstrosity Posts: 2,234member
    Generation idiot
    Muntzracerhomie3jbdragon
  • Reply 17 of 79
    foggyhillfoggyhill Posts: 4,767member
    Fracking bullshit, and I'm french Canadian with actual family France (a whole side of the family).
    And the tax rates in France are completely absurd (and I live in Canada so it is not like I'm not willing to pay a decent amount of taxes, my marginal tax rate is near 54% but that's nothing compared to France).

    While people in North America complain of "regulations", actual regulations on small enterprises in France is so immense that entrepreneurship is very very low.

    WTF does tax avoidance even mean in the french context, 90% of their damn actors go abroad because they can't stand the ridiculous taxes.


    They're just using Apple as "clickbait" for their cause like every other asshole in the world.
    entropysSolimacseekerrandominternetpersonbloggerblogMuntzradarthekatjbdragonGG1tdknox
  • Reply 18 of 79
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,038member
    foggyhill said:
    Fracking bullshit, and I'm french Canadian with actual family France (a whole side of the family).
    And the tax rates in France are completely absurd (and I live in Canada so it is not like I'm not willing to pay a decent amount of taxes, my marginal tax rate is near 54% but that's nothing compared to France).

    While people in North America complain of "regulations", actual regulations on small enterprises in France is so immense that entrepreneurship is very very low.

    WTF does tax avoidance even mean in the french context, 90% of their damn actors go abroad because they can't stand the ridiculous taxes.


    They're just using Apple as "clickbait" for their cause like every other asshole in the world.
    👆
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 19 of 79
    robin huberrobin huber Posts: 4,014member
    entropys said:
    You, know, 8 April is th fifth anniversary of Margaret Thatchers death. The [simplified] quote I like best is

    The trouble with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money

    They are always after more. Moar!

    The trouble with capitalism is that eventually you run out of people to screw. 
    GeorgeBMacdeminsdsingularitydasanman69muthuk_vanalingammac_dog
  • Reply 20 of 79
    entropys said:
    You, know, 8 April is th fifth anniversary of Margaret Thatchers death. The [simplified] quote I like best is

    The trouble with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money

    They are always after more. Moar!

    The trouble with capitalism is that eventually you run out of people to screw. 
    The problem with capitalism is that eventually you run out of people with whom you can make mutually agreeable deals.  The good news is that eventuality never comes.
    Muntzradarthekatracerhomie3tallest skilSpamSandwichdeminsdentropysbshankpscooter63steven n.
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