[jjn2009]

It should be close to zero, why are we forcing Apple to pay taxes twice? Let them bring the money back and they will put it to much better use than any government organization. They could hire huge numbers of people and contribute to a massive trade surplus.

[ubernostrum]

why are we forcing Apple to pay taxes twice?

We're not. The "Double Irish", "Dutch Sandwich" and other arrangements are about funneling the maximum possible amount of revenue through subsidiaries which can do tax-free or tax-deductible payments and transfers to each other, until finally the money ends up on the books of a company whose tax residency is Bermuda or the Cayman Islands, both of which have no corporate income tax.

As of a few years ago, it was reported that Google had gotten so good at this that 99.8% of their revenue outside the US was showing up in a subsidiary with Bermuda tax residency.

So that money wouldn't be "taxed twice" if brought into the US -- the whole point of the arrangement is that it hasn't even been taxed once yet.

[jjn2009]

Countries don't need to have a corporate tax, and if they do not have a corporate tax it doesn't mean the US government should get a piece of the pie because no one else decided to take it.

Just like a Comcast monopoly in a small rural town the US government without competition would continue to soak up more money and spend it on increasingly useless things.

[ubernostrum]

Don't look now, but you just moved the goalposts.

[jjn2009]

Governments are averse to competition, bureaucrats need to realize they cannot bully companies into paying ever increasing taxes within a global economy. The goalposts moved a long time ago, I did not move them.

[ubernostrum]

Well, the original complaint I responded to was "they shouldn't be taxed twice on the same money", and I pointed out they're not being taxed twice on the same money.

Meanwhile, if Apple wants to bring this money into the US, well, they can do what the US tells them to do when it comes to taxes. Apple has benefited enormously from services and infrastructure paid for by everyone else's taxes, and shouldn't get to leech off that without having to play by the same rules (and I say this as someone who pays a higher percentage of my own income in tax than Apple would even if it repatriated all its profits).

[jjn2009]

I did not find that part of your argument to be substantial to the core of my point, they followed whatever tax regulations they were subject to abroad and if there are loopholes then those countries can close them if they so desire.

Overseas profits will end up paying for corporate infrastructure and jobs elsewhere, penalizing global activities by taxing profits which do not occur in the US is not a very forward thinking strategy for the US Government and it's why we will continue to get killed in trade with deficits until it obliterates our economy.