I'm 100% giving Tax Cuts and other special deals to get some business to build there. I think it's completely unfair. Unfair to everyone else living there. Everyone should be equal under the law. You want businesses to go and build there, you should drop the taxes some for EVERYONE. Lower taxes, people come. Maybe you don't get Apple, but you get a lot of small businesses opening up instead. This is just playing favorites.
You have Apple charging a whole lot of money for their phones. Then try to get the cheapest deal and pay out the least amount of taxes for themselves and screwing over the taxpayers. I really don't get this. You get less tax money, and then have all the issues off a bunch more people moving into town.
I don't care where this happens at or whatever company. It just makes Apple look more and more greedy. How much is to much? Just like trying to get app developers to move to a subscription, so Apple can get their 30% cut every month. I have a number of Apple products, but I'm not going to kiss their greedy butt.
Apple won the bid because they are the largest and most stable corporation in the world by most standards. Comparing them to a bunch of random small businesses also looking for a bargain is silly. All companies want to sell their products for the most money while paying the least to employees and suppliers. That is capitalism 101. Many of those little businesses you speak of would be startups or companies overextending themselves and will fold so there is an inherent risk to the jobs and citizens there. Very little risk of Apple folding.
Kudos to Williamson County commissioners but is $16 million dollars over 15 years really an incensitve for Apple? It seems to me that the money will be a lot more meaningful to the residents of the county. Or is it just to show good faith / commitment?
I take your point...it seems this is the way these things work now.
The richest company in the world getting a $41 million incentive from money taken out of education, infrastructure, etc., from the good people of Williamson County. Hmmmmmm. Not cool!
These "tax incentives" aren't a check Williamson County is writing to Apple. They are discounts on taxes that Apple will be paying--money Williamson County wouldn't have if Apple weren't going there. Obviously WC would be better off if Apple made exactly the same decision without any sweeteners, but clearly the county officials believes that these incentives were worth it.
Kudos to Williamson County commissioners but is $16 million dollars over 15 years really an incensitve for Apple? It seems to me that the money will be a lot more meaningful to the residents of the county. Or is it just to show good faith / commitment?
I take your point...it seems this is the way these things work now.
The richest company in the world getting a $41 million incentive from money taken out of education, infrastructure, etc., from the good people of Williamson County. Hmmmmmm. Not cool!
For some reason Americans put shareholder's rights above all other considerations. Business are continually allowed to raid public taxpayer coffers!
*The top one tenth of 1% (.01%) now have as much assets/wealth as the bottom 90%!
Something is amiss, afoot, alas!
*Source: Fareed Zakaria GPS: (12/16/18)
Why do you say “Not cool”? The States compete with each other and offering incentives to land good businesses is part of that.
I may have put the 'not cool' comment in the wrong place.
My point was twofold; politicians have one thing to 'sell' (to get elected and re-elected) and that's 'lines' in the tax code.
It's the reason we have 87,000 pages of said tax code. (About 86,000 pages more than the other developed countries.)
Including, tax breaks for jet fuel of owners of private jets (What?) and tax breaks for companies to take their factories overseas, (65,000 factories in the last 30 years), etc.
I suppose, I mean, elected officials, at all levels, city, state, and nationally are basically 'concierges' for big businesses. And, everyone else be damned!
More generally, when elected officials promise "free stuff" to people and those people continually elect people that promise free stuff but, ostensibly, don't want to pay for it (I.E., taxes), you have what's called 'debt!' Surprised? $23 trillion of debt, BTW.
What I'd like is, everyone over the age of 55 to pay back the debt they have incurred by electing the irresponsible buffoons that would entertain giving the richest company in the history of the world a $41 million tax credit!
US Debt? How best to describe US debt? Hmmmm...lets use 'seconds.' A million seconds is about 11 days. A billion seconds is about 32 years. A trillion seconds is about 32,000 years...so our current debt is about $22 trillion that's 740,000 years!
So, yep, you're right, let's give another $41 million to the richest company in the history of the world! Makes sense, right?
I'm 100% giving Tax Cuts and other special deals to get some business to build there. I think it's completely unfair. Unfair to everyone else living there. Everyone should be equal under the law. You want businesses to go and build there, you should drop the taxes some for EVERYONE. Lower taxes, people come. Maybe you don't get Apple, but you get a lot of small businesses opening up instead. This is just playing favorites.
You have Apple charging a whole lot of money for their phones. Then try to get the cheapest deal and pay out the least amount of taxes for themselves and screwing over the taxpayers. I really don't get this. You get less tax money, and then have all the issues off a bunch more people moving into town.
I don't care where this happens at or whatever company. It just makes Apple look more and more greedy. How much is to much? Just like trying to get app developers to move to a subscription, so Apple can get their 30% cut every month. I have a number of Apple products, but I'm not going to kiss their greedy butt.
Apple won the bid because they are the largest and most stable corporation in the world by most standards. Comparing them to a bunch of random small businesses also looking for a bargain is silly. All companies want to sell their products for the most money while paying the least to employees and suppliers. That is capitalism 101. Many of those little businesses you speak of would be startups or companies overextending themselves and will fold so there is an inherent risk to the jobs and citizens there. Very little risk of Apple folding.
Kudos to Williamson County commissioners but is $16 million dollars over 15 years really an incensitve for Apple? It seems to me that the money will be a lot more meaningful to the residents of the county. Or is it just to show good faith / commitment?
I take your point...it seems this is the way these things work now.
The richest company in the world getting a $41 million incentive from money taken out of education, infrastructure, etc., from the good people of Williamson County. Hmmmmmm. Not cool!
For some reason Americans put shareholder's rights above all other considerations. Business are continually allowed to raid public taxpayer coffers!
*The top one tenth of 1% (.01%) now have as much assets/wealth as the bottom 90%!
Something is amiss, afoot, alas!
*Source: Fareed Zakaria GPS: (12/16/18)
Taxpayers aren’t funding anything. That land has been marked with an Agricultural Exemption forever. The county currently gets about $100/year in property taxes for the entire property. After the grace period expires, they will get millions every year.
I'm 100% giving Tax Cuts and other special deals to get some business to build there. I think it's completely unfair. Unfair to everyone else living there. Everyone should be equal under the law. You want businesses to go and build there, you should drop the taxes some for EVERYONE. Lower taxes, people come. Maybe you don't get Apple, but you get a lot of small businesses opening up instead. This is just playing favorites.
You have Apple charging a whole lot of money for their phones. Then try to get the cheapest deal and pay out the least amount of taxes for themselves and screwing over the taxpayers. I really don't get this. You get less tax money, and then have all the issues off a bunch more people moving into town.
I don't care where this happens at or whatever company. It just makes Apple look more and more greedy. How much is to much? Just like trying to get app developers to move to a subscription, so Apple can get their 30% cut every month. I have a number of Apple products, but I'm not going to kiss their greedy butt.
Texas has no State income tax. The State of Texas do not collect property tax, the local counties gets the property taxes and it's some of the highest in the Nation at 1.85%. The State of Texas do have a 6.5% State sales tax (not including the added local tax) and a corporate tax that tops off at 1% of revenue for large corporations and 0% for small businesses... ... And EVERYONE in Texas will benefit from Apple Inc. paying corporate taxes in Texas.
randominternetperson said: These "tax incentives" aren't a check Williamson County is writing to Apple. They are discounts on taxes that Apple will be paying--money Williamson County wouldn't have if Apple weren't going there. Obviously WC would be better off if Apple made exactly the same decision without any sweeteners, but clearly the county officials believes that these incentives were worth it.
16 million from the county over 15 years, "That's on top of another $25 million from the Texas Enterprise Fund."
To the county that's not bad vs. 5000 jobs. That works out to only $213.33 per job per year.
That's not what Apple is promising is it? Certainly not anytime in the very near future according to the economic development agreement between the county and Apple.
That agreement says Apple has set a target of averaging 600 new jobs every two years to qualify for the tax rebate, but they don't have to hit their target to get the benefit anyway. About 2800 total new hires over the next 15 years, 70% of projections, will do.
Put a different way the County and TEF are agreeing to pay up to $12,800 of each new Apple employees wages. It doesn't have to necessarily be a hire at the new property, any Apple controlled facility/office in the county will be OK.
Comments
I may have put the 'not cool' comment in the wrong place.
My point was twofold; politicians have one thing to 'sell' (to get elected and re-elected) and that's 'lines' in the tax code.
It's the reason we have 87,000 pages of said tax code. (About 86,000 pages more than the other developed countries.)
Including, tax breaks for jet fuel of owners of private jets (What?) and tax breaks for companies to take their factories overseas, (65,000 factories in the last 30 years), etc.
I suppose, I mean, elected officials, at all levels, city, state, and nationally are basically 'concierges' for big businesses. And, everyone else be damned!
More generally, when elected officials promise "free stuff" to people and those people continually elect people that promise free stuff but, ostensibly, don't want to pay for it (I.E., taxes), you have what's called 'debt!' Surprised? $23 trillion of debt, BTW.
What I'd like is, everyone over the age of 55 to pay back the debt they have incurred by electing the irresponsible buffoons that would entertain giving the richest company in the history of the world a $41 million tax credit!
US Debt? How best to describe US debt? Hmmmm...lets use 'seconds.' A million seconds is about 11 days. A billion seconds is about 32 years. A trillion seconds is about 32,000 years...so our current debt is about $22 trillion that's 740,000 years!
So, yep, you're right, let's give another $41 million to the richest company in the history of the world! Makes sense, right?
That agreement says Apple has set a target of averaging 600 new jobs every two years to qualify for the tax rebate, but they don't have to hit their target to get the benefit anyway. About 2800 total new hires over the next 15 years, 70% of projections, will do.
Put a different way the County and TEF are agreeing to pay up to $12,800 of each new Apple employees wages. It doesn't have to necessarily be a hire at the new property, any Apple controlled facility/office in the county will be OK.