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TLDR seems to be: we may pay a much lower tax on profits than most individuals do on income, but at least we have so much profit that we still pay a lot. Also,

TLDR seems to be: we may pay a much lower tax on profits than most individuals do on income, but at least we have so much profit that we still pay a lot. Also, it's technically legal, so it must be ethical. And we donate to charity and stuff, so whatever. Funny that they recognize in the response that they are primarily an US-based company, with US labour educated in the country, but instead want to pay Irish taxes. Or maybe they do get 30% of their worldwide profits from Ireland, who knows...

taligent 14y ago
Well clearly you don't know what on earth is going on. Ireland is the EMEIA headquarters for Apple and yes they do get more then 30% of their worldwide profits from Europe.
hej 14y ago
Apple's EMEA headquarters are in Cork, Ireland. 2,800 people (and growing) are working there. In the last quarter, 23 percent of Apple’s profits were made in EMEA (compared to 33 percent in the Americas, 28 percent in Asia-Pacific, 16 percent in Japan and seven percent in retail). The article on The New York Times quotes numbers from 2004, then EMEA made 28 percent of Apple’s profits. I don’t think it’s a problem when Apple decides not to move money made overseas back to the US. That's their decision and there is nothing shady about it either way. I can't think of any moral objections. Purposefully moving money somewhere in order to avoid taxes, however, could be if not a legal at least a moral problem.
- georgemcbay 14y ago
  "I don’t think it’s a problem when Apple decides not to move money made overseas back to the US. That's their decision and there is nothing shady about it either way. I can't think of any moral objections." I don't think this is a problem either, unless they lobby themselves a holiday under which they can move it back on the cheap. Which is something they have been trying to do for a while now (to be fair, Google, Cisco and others have been pushing for this with them, so it isn't just Apple). http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-29/google-joins-apple-mobilizing-lobbyists-to-push-for-tax-holiday-on-profits.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-29/google-joins-apple-...
hnwh 14y ago
They pay full US taxes on all of their income generated in the US, in case that wasn't clear

taligent 14y ago

Well clearly you don't know what on earth is going on. Ireland is the EMEIA headquarters for Apple and yes they do get more then 30% of their worldwide profits from Europe.

hej 14y ago

Apple's EMEA headquarters are in Cork, Ireland. 2,800 people (and growing) are working there. In the last quarter, 23 percent of Apple’s profits were made in EMEA (compared to 33 percent in the Americas, 28 percent in Asia-Pacific, 16 percent in Japan and seven percent in retail). The article on The New York Times quotes numbers from 2004, then EMEA made 28 percent of Apple’s profits. I don’t think it’s a problem when Apple decides not to move money made overseas back to the US. That's their decision and there is nothing shady about it either way. I can't think of any moral objections. Purposefully moving money somewhere in order to avoid taxes, however, could be if not a legal at least a moral problem.

georgemcbay 14y ago
"I don’t think it’s a problem when Apple decides not to move money made overseas back to the US. That's their decision and there is nothing shady about it either way. I can't think of any moral objections." I don't think this is a problem either, unless they lobby themselves a holiday under which they can move it back on the cheap. Which is something they have been trying to do for a while now (to be fair, Google, Cisco and others have been pushing for this with them, so it isn't just Apple). http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-29/google-joins-apple-mobilizing-lobbyists-to-push-for-tax-holiday-on-profits.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-29/google-joins-apple-...

hnwh 14y ago

They pay full US taxes on all of their income generated in the US, in case that wasn't clear