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But that's exactly it: at what point does tax "avoidance" become unethical or "civically irresponsible". After all, Apple is operating in the USA: doesn't it ha

• trapezoid 13y ago
  No. Its singular obligation is to the shareholders - not even to the customers, except insofar as that builds longterm shareholder value. Of course, in practice there's a lot of leeway in deciding how much attention one should pay to customers; loyal customers are key to a company's success. Whether or not to pay extra taxes, however, is cut and dry. There's virtually no benefit to Apple in voluntarily paying a higher tax, so it doesn't do so. Any obligation it has to the state must be explicitly stated in law. There's no concept of civic irresponsibility for companies; that's exactly what laws are for. there's only legal and illegal.
• snowwrestler 13y ago
  The point is that Apple is not just operating in the USA; it is operating around the world and makes profits around the world. No one disputes that Apple pays U.S. taxes on their U.S. operations, and no one has accused them of moving U.S. profits overseas to avoid taxes. The big to-do is entirely about their earnings overseas. The question of the ethics of international taxation is complicated by the fact that most countries in the world do not expect their companies to pay both local taxes and domestic taxes; the U.S. does. So it is not like Apple is violating some broad standard of behavior. If anything the U.S. tax system is the aberration.