Exactly, so why should any corporation pay more than they’re required to by law?
It looks like Apple’s fucking marginal tax rate was ~26% 2013-2015. How much more should they be paying?
We should probably point out here that Apple doesn’t really spend much on lobbying. I’m sure not much of that money was spent on tax reform. If taxes were reformed (not likely under Trump), they’d probably still follow the law.
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Well, that’s kind of my point. It may be legally fine, but if it stinks to the average person, then maybe there’s something wrong with the tax laws…
Except as the article says they’re buying T-Bills on the secondary market so the money’s already been paid to the Treasury by someone else and Apple is buying it at a cut price because the entities that own it want to cash out before they mature. We don’t know exactly how cut the rate but they’re probably getting a better rate than they would buying them directly. Also they’re converting cash to T-bills and cash does even worse against inflation so their not exactly taking one for the team.
Most importantly, since we left the gold standard in 1971, t-bills and other t-securities are not used to pay for anything. They are financial instruments used to balance the books between the Treasury and Federal reserve.
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The outrage is because Apple is using T-bills to launder the money from their tax evasion profits, plus making money off the the same people they’re already screwing over.
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Last week, we had a community member declaring Cory a fake journalist and a “trolley.” Now he’s a creator of “fake news.” How the world turns…
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Whether it’s a genuine opinion or trolling, the rectal snuffling necessary to deny the class war can be comical. It’s a bit too prevalent for my taste.
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They still finance our deficit right? Anyone buying them maintains the demand level that allows us to issue massive debt at interest rates below inflation, which is a pretty neat trick. By reducing the number of outstanding bonds on the secondary market, some customers will probably be forced to buy treasuries directly from the Treasury. Still better for us than if Apple were to make productive investments abroad with the same money. The gold standard is dead for good reasons, get over it. Why should our economy be directed by geological processes?
I’m trying to parse what you’re saying here (and whether it is about Cory or the BBS member) and failing.
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…not as weird as “Offshoring bad, Apples with T-Bill blandness; Your Well-Paid People Should Fight Those Professional Tax Derps That Apple Sends Round DC; Up The Corruption Con XVI RFP” but, it was shorter.
er, I mean, educated workers -and- a next generation? -nevar!- I’m doing modular construction on RaveMoon instead!
enso: All the anteAngelino news that’s fit to…eat before the Angelinos, I guess.
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I’m trying to parse what you’re saying here
I’m talking about the endless nitpicking, by multiple bbsers, of any pushback against the scam artists who run the commercial world. It’s sad the way it’s the default position of generic commenters.
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There, for once, we agree!
I really think that this is why few of our hosts and authors of blog posts ever show up on the BBS.
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I don’t think “Launder” is the right word for what’s happening. To me, that sounds the same as repatriation – taking “dirty” money (money held overseas, typically from profits made overseas) and making it available for use in the US (clean, as if taxes had been paid).
From the bloomberg article:
The current exemption, spelled out in Section 956(c)(2) of the U.S. tax code, has been in place since 1962. But over the past two decades, global companies (particularly in technology and pharmaceuticals) began to use it aggressively as one way to reduce the tax bill on their burgeoning overseas profits. It states companies can repatriate income without paying a penny in taxes—as long as it is used to buy Treasuries or other U.S. securities like stocks and corporate bonds.
If a company decides to use the money for any other purpose, like capital spending, it would still be subject to a 35 percent tax. And the money reverts back to accounts designated for foreign cash if the securities are sold. (Part of the reason companies still earmark the cash as “held overseas” for accounting purposes.)
So, it can be temporarily repatriated to buy T bills (which is a good thing - the US wants people to buy their T bills), but as soon as those bills mature, the money is right back where it started.
It seems to me that the kicker is that Apple would have to pay taxes on that interest if it wanted to repatriate it; taxes it would not have to pay if the T bills had been bought with domestic funds.
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It’s so very sad to see how deeply ingrained capitalism has become in our culture.
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It’s sad to see that defending fake news isn’t just a conservative thing. Instead, it is something we get to see liberals do (not saying you are necessarily liberal) in the name of “ya’ll critics ain’t from around here” or some such.
Cory has inarguably spread falsehoods in his posts, even where the actual facts are already outrageous and newsworthy. Sometimes just the headlines. And sometimes in the body copy, too. It isn’t legitimately defensible.
When your tone-policing masquerades as righteousness, only the acceptable lies remain. And by acceptable I mean the ourageous things you claim to abhor but do nothing to fight. Normalisation continues.
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If you tried really really hard, I’m sure it can be done. After all, Ceaușescu did. Then they executed him together with his wife.
False facts are not “tone”.
Legal misinterpretation which validates fraud does not create facts.
What false facts?
