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by aakil 5167 days ago
There really should be some sort of movement to shame apple (and hopefully other California companies) for doing this. They've benefitted immensely from the infrastructure we've provided and are doing nothing to invest back into it now that they're on top. At the very least they should help with the rising tuition costs at public schools (UCs, Cal States, etc.)
3 comments

Shaming them for what? They're simply taking advantage of the confusing and loophole filled tax laws you provided them.

Nobody pays more taxes than they absolutely have to. If you don't want people to abuse loopholes, fix the loopholes.

I guess I feel that there'll always be loopholes and ways to exploit the system if you try hard enough, so having that be something that can tarnish a company's public image is a much bigger deterrent than the law can be. Also, realistically, it's a lot easier to have a bunch of students refuse to buy the iPhone 5 until apple pays its fair share of taxes, than to have legislators change the tax code.
Using loopholes when you know they are loopholes seems pretty immoral to me. You don’t have to agree with me on that, but that would for example be a prime reason for shaming them. Morals are not equal to the law. Immoral things stay immoral even if they are legal. And there is nothing wrong with calling out immoral behavior.
Some people would say collecting tax is already immoral.
It feels that California was a random choice for Jobs family, not a calculated decision, like Microsoft's move from New Mexico to Washington. On tuition, feels like these guys should start a fund http://www.sfgate.com/webdb/ucpay/
We should be shaming the politicians who created this mess, both at the state and federal levels.