Apple could face huge tax bill as Obama calls for new taxes on offshore profits in FY2016 budget

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  • Reply 101 of 203
    boltsfan17boltsfan17 Posts: 2,294member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by freediverx View Post

     

     

    Regardless of where the product is sold, the company selling it is American. If you want to bring those profits back to the US you should have to pay US taxes on it. Right now the profits are being kept outside of the US for the sole reason of avoiding taxes.

     

    if I make a mint selling crap on Ebay to foreign customers I still have to pay income tax on my profits regardless. Companies should be the same.




    Technically, the company isn't American. Those profits are earned overseas by an overseas company. It may be owned by an American company, but that doesn't mean it should be taxed by the U.S. government. Apple pays taxes on the profits it earns here. They shouldn't be forced to pay taxes on income it earns overseas with their company based in another country. 

  • Reply 102 of 203
    boltsfan17boltsfan17 Posts: 2,294member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by freediverx View Post

     

     

    And you sound like a typical anti-immigrant racist.




    Typical liberal response. Calling someone against illegal immigration racist. 

  • Reply 103 of 203
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member

    If not government, then who will spend it for good?
    OK, tell me what percentage of the government budget goes for good. It certainly isn't the money spent on welfare which is obvious in any city you visit in America. Without question a good percentage, probably 50%, of our tax dollars are wasted every year, that is pathetic. Even federal institutions that might do some good waste much of the tax revenue allocated to them for massive staffs and wasteful infrastructure. The federal tax dollar is woefully in effcient in accomplishing anything.
    We can't rely on a system of arbitrary philanthropy.

    Nope we can't do that. We also can't be extending our tax system to every country in the world. This is a fundamental problem here. You must remember that when Apple sets up accompany in another local, it is subject to all the tax regulations of that country. That can often mean local, state and federal style taxes, maybe even a city tax. This attempt at tax law would make companies liable for taxes in these foriegn locations even if the earnings are never brought back into the USA. So how can this be legally justified and more so tolerated by other governments?

    The fundamental problem here is the attempt to tax money not earned in the US before it is even brought into the U.S.
  • Reply 104 of 203
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Boltsfan17 View Post

     
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mstone View Post

     

    Please show us a US company that paid anywhere close to the official 40% corporate tax. I own a corporation which paid very little tax in 2014. That is what accountants do - write off income.


    We do have the highest corporate tax rate in the world. That is a fact. I understand the rate is before deductions, tax loopholes, tax breaks, etc, but there are companies that pay close to the maximum. It depends on the industry who gets hit the most. Over the last 5 years, companies in the healthcare industry paid an average tax rate of almost 30%. General Dynamics paid a federal rate of 29% between 2008-2012. I can't think of the name off the top of my head, but there was a big 5 year study that showed all the rates companies are paying. 

     


    Really? You'll have to do better than that. I'm in the healthcare business and my tax rates do not correspond at all to your declarations. Please provide links to verifiable sources, preferably other than Fox news.

  • Reply 105 of 203
    lmgslmgs Posts: 63member
    Reading the comments, I seriously worry about our country....

    The constitution means nothing anymore, and no one seems to care what the government does to them, or American companies...
  • Reply 106 of 203
    lmgs wrote: »
    Reading the comments, I seriously worry about our country....

    The constitution means nothing anymore, and no one seems to care what the government does to them, or American companies...

    After six years of this government's overreach and intrusion Marxism seems almost natural and unavoidable now, doesn't it?
  • Reply 107 of 203
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Got to say some excellent posts and not too many people were childish and insulting. Well done folks. I learned a lot. Oh wait a minute ....
  • Reply 108 of 203
    analogjack wrote: »
    As long as it's applied properly to all companies, it is an excellent idea for governments the world over to tax multi mega million companies at a rate of at least 35%. Provided that these funds go where they ought.

    How does that work? Apple should be taxed at 35% in each oversea country in which the sale is made? And then taxed another 35% in the US because they are a US company? Is that 35% in the US pre-tax or post-taxation from the country in which they sold the goods? That seems excessive to me. Even this talk of offshore taxation isn't close to being that high.
  • Reply 109 of 203
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    People forget how much we advanced thanks to the space program in the '60s. Not to mention the prestige benefits.

    In my estimation the Obama administration has made a considerable number of blunders that have put our future as a country in question. Each of these seems to be the result of a fundemantal misunderstanding of how the government can do good.

    The big one is the focus on green energy at the expense of nuclear fusion research. Not that green energy isn't important but rather it can never solve all of our energy needs as the country continues to grow.

    While I can't blame all of NASA problems on Obama (it has been neglected for decades now) the choice to reuse the Applo era capsule technology just demonstrates a failure to understand how the tax dollar can benefit everyone by moving technology forward. Plus we have the issue of all the lies about its usefulness, nobody is going to Mars stuffed in that can. Worst is that the budget is such a tiny fraction of the total federal budget yet most Amricans are woefully misinformed about that thinking it is a massive drain. Talk about a lack of communications.

    Lastly basic science has certainly taken a back seat at the White House. It is something we need to stress via the education system to reduce the gross gullibility of the general population. But also at the research level where new advances come. The global warming fiasco is a major concern here as people seem to accept to many remarks from researchers on both sides of the debate without a critical eye. Further people don't seem to understand the differences between theories that are supported by sound evidence that the theories are correct. This is totally embarrassing. We need a population that is better educated when it comes to the basic sciences, the scientific process and a grasp of critical thinking to avoid swimming with the herd.
  • Reply 110 of 203
    wizard69 wrote: »
    OK, tell me what percentage of the government budget goes for good. It certainly isn't the money spent on welfare which is obvious in any city you visit in America.

    You can't draw that conclusion from your anecdotal observation of "any city you visit in America." You have no idea what the welfare of the people would be without that assistance, or the affects it would have on society as a whole without being in place. You hypothesis and create an argument as to why you believe it needs to be change. If you're successful, perhaps it will be changed and then decades later you may be able to look back to see if your plan was successful for the greater good of society, but you can't simply look at "any city you visit in America" to make such a determine of how these people's live would be without the assistance.
  • Reply 111 of 203
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mstone View Post

     

    Really? You'll have to do better than that. I'm in the healthcare business and my tax rates do not correspond at all to your declarations. Please provide links to verifiable sources, preferably other than Fox news.




    Me do better? You offered nothing. This article is about large corporations and I provided numbers for large corporations. I imagine your business isn't a large corporation. 

  • Reply 112 of 203
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member

    Term limits for one thing.

    A couple of years ago I thought that was the answer, but now I'm pretty much convinced that it isn't the answer. The problem is that term limits would put a bunch of bozos in office with no idea about what is going on government wise. Experience can be useful if it is used ethically. The problem is how do you structure government to keep those elected on the path expected by the voting public.

    I don't know the answer to that. The democrats lost big time last election due to the filty direction government has turned in the last few years. Many people where elected based on the promise of turning things around and yet they are already wavering on do that. I really think people need to take to the streets to wake up DC and actually address the problems we have.
  • Reply 113 of 203
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by wizard69 View Post





    A couple of years ago I thought that was the answer, but now I'm pretty much convinced that it isn't the answer. The problem is that term limits would put a bunch of bozos in office with no idea about what is going on government wise. Experience can be useful if it is used ethically. The problem is how do you structure government to keep those elected on the path expected by the voting public.



    I don't know the answer to that. The democrats lost big time last election due to the filty direction government has turned in the last few years. Many people where elected based on the promise of turning things around and yet they are already wavering on do that. I really think people need to take to the streets to wake up DC and actually address the problems we have.

    The problem today is the government really isn't representing the people that vote them into office. There are just too many special interest groups involved in the government. Democrats lost because of all the lies like keeping your health care provider and not doing anything in other areas. Will the Republican controlled congress do better? We will see, but I imagine it's going to be the same ole politics going on thats ruining this country. I just wish I knew what the answer is to fix the mess in DC. 

     

    Edit: If you really think about it, I think the answer is this country needs to be ran like a business. I think that could potentially solve many problems. 

  • Reply 114 of 203
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by freediverx View Post

     

     

    if companies don't like paying US taxes they're welcome to GTFO and try doing the same business elsewhere.

     


     

    I do wager that Apple made lots of these profits NOT in the USA. So they are actually already doing this but still want to get taxed.

     

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by zoffdino View Post

     

     

    Ever shop in Europe? 20% VAT on everything!. Over here people get mad at paying 9% state sales tax for online orders.

     

    Almost every country require its tax residents to report income from all sources (foreign and domestic) for tax purposes. Most (including the US) will give credits to taxes already paid to foreign authorities. Notice that I said tax resident. There are certain criteria to determine if you are a tax resident in the country (having significant income there, own properties or live for part of the year, etc.) The US is unique in that every citizen is considered a tax resident. Even if you haven't set foot in the US for the last 20 years, you still have to pay US taxes on your income.


     

    True you have VAT but that's still fairer than taxing someone who is not even using the services of the homeland because he's not even living there.

     

    USA does not have a tax treaty with many Asian countries I know from my own experience. Hell even I do pay taxes (withholding tax) on US sales of my stuff on the App Store. And I'm not doing ANYTHING there other than selling.

  • Reply 115 of 203
    ronboronbo Posts: 669member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AnalogJack View Post



    As long as it's applied properly to all companies, it is an excellent idea for governments the world over to tax multi mega million companies at a rate of at least 35%. Provided that these funds go where they ought.



    When have they EVER gone where they ought?

  • Reply 116 of 203
    boltsfan17 wrote: »
    The problem today is the government really isn't representing the people that vote them into office. There are just too many special interest groups involved in the government. Democrats lost because of all the lies like keeping your health care provider and not doing anything in other areas. Will the Republican controlled congress do better? We will see, but I imagine it's going to be the same ole politics going on thats ruining this country. I just wish I knew what the answer is to fix the mess in DC. 

    As has been wisely stated before: "That government is best which governs least."

    People can be trusted to act in their own self-interest, therefore minimizing the damage government can do would be the best for everyone.
  • Reply 117 of 203
    koopkoop Posts: 337member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post



    So people want to pay more for products and services? Because these business taxes just get passed on to consumers in the end.



    Same ol talking point that I hear every time we think about raising taxes, minimum wage etc etc. "Just let a business operate as it sees fit. Free to pay unlivable wages, no taxes and that'll keep the economy going strong. I mean, with all that profit i'm sure they'll get around to raising wages and hire more people...soon." And it's the same shit, every election cycle with this. The same exact Republican talking point. We can never raise taxes, we can never impose taxes and we should never raise the minimum wage.

     

    40 years of wage stagnation but we'll i'm sure if we just keep taxes low, subsidies, and loopholes for just a teensy bit longer I'm sure all these rich corporations and their executives will shower money back into the middle class. Whatever is left of it. 

     

    Who am I kidding, keeping the iPhone at the affordable $650 price tag seems like the better bet. 

  • Reply 118 of 203
    koopkoop Posts: 337member

    Nevermind on this post. Not going to go further than I need to.

  • Reply 119 of 203
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Boltsfan17 View Post

     
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mstone View Post

     

    Really? You'll have to do better than that. I'm in the healthcare business and my tax rates do not correspond at all to your declarations. Please provide links to verifiable sources, preferably other than Fox news.




    Me do better? You offered nothing. This article is about large corporations and I provided numbers for large corporations. I imagine your business isn't a large corporation. 


    You provided numbers with no verification. Do better.

  • Reply 120 of 203
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    frankie wrote: »

    Or companies and the super rich could pay the taxes they owe.
    There is no doubt that the tax codes need work. However the rich are already paying significant amounts of tax to the point that it is unreasonable taxing. A flat tax system with no loop holes is needed, everybody including the poor pay the same rate. I never understood why the poor get off scot free in this country. If they don't have the money then they need to be compelled to work for it.

    And if you want to cut government lets start with insane amount we spend on the US military which doesn't even keep track of what it spends.

    Actually that is some of the best spend going when it comes to our tax dollars. Not so much because it keeps the war machine going but rather it keeps businesses alive in this country that wouldn't even exist by now. The electronics industry is a perfect example, so little non governmental electronics work is now done in the USA that you might as well call it a dead industry. Technologically we would be far worst off it it wasn't for government spend on the military. I'm not saying that is a good thing at all, it is just a reality of curent conditions in the country.

    Frankly our position in the world makes us a target from big and little alike. We have gotten soft in that respect and frankly I don't see the world changing for the better in that regard. So if anything rearmament is needed especially with respect to our nuclear forces. Consider current threats a doubling of the budget is sound planning.
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