big brother 84

anantksundaram said:

big brother 84 said:

It is sad to see Tim Cook taking this line. Most of the people on this forum will stay with Apple to the bitter end but vast swathes of the unconverted may just look at this situation and decide to go for Samsung for their next phone.

LOL. Have you looked up how much Samsung pays in taxes in the EU? Can you produce any figures to show that it is at a higher rate than Apple does?

The point I am making is that it is Apple that is getting all the bad publicity, made worse by Tim Cook's response. Unless Samsung get the same bad PR it won't affect them regardless of what they pay.

The US government and American companies should target the EU back, hit them hard enough to get them dissolved.  To hell with any consequences to be fixed later.
The EU is an ill conceived organization managed by idiots that should not exist.  The world would be better without them.

It may have escaped you attention but economically the EU is pretty much the same size as the US. Any juvenile 'tit-for-tat' sanctions would hurt EVERYONE. But thankfully, you are not in charge of the economy.

It is sad to see Tim Cook taking this line. Most of the people on this forum will stay with Apple to the bitter end but vast swathes of the unconverted may just look at this situation and decide to go for Samsung for their next phone.

Let's be honest, Apple are the easy target in this story but many others will follow. International corporations of all nationalities take the p*ss when it comes to paying their taxes and unless you happen to be a major shareholder in one of them I don't really understand why people here are prepared to defend them. Those of us that run small businesses don't have the resources to exploit tax loopholes. We end up paying more because they pay less.

I listened to Tim Cook trying to defend Apple's pitifully low tax rate on the BBC news this morning and it just sounded bad. Very bad PR. Attacking the EU is very unwise. All the people whose businesses pay tax at 20% are looking at this and saying why should Apple pay tax at less than 1%.
As a life-long Apple evangelist, even I find this Apple hard to swallow.

apple ][ said:

Who will suffer more?

We don't need the EU.

Let's see if the suits in Brussels are ready to play hardball. We sure are! Bring it on! We'll crush them all, like the little men that they are.

You don't need billions of dollars in sales? Oh really?

What is this pathetic macho stance about? The EU economy is the same size as the US economy and any 'playing hardball' will hurt everyone. Just grow up.
This case is directed at Ireland not Apple but if it means they have been under paying their taxes so be it. Why should they pay less than other companies? I'm sick of giant corporations using their 'smart' accountants to hide their profits offshore and get favourable terms from governments. Meanwhile smaller businesses have to pay the full amount - it's disgusting