Apple Rebuffed by White House in Bid for Tax Holiday?

[Michael Essany]

It's not often that Apple fails to get its way. But chalk this up as one of those rare occasions.

As it turns out, Apple has aggressively pushed for Washington to allow a tax holiday on overseas profits - something the Obama Administration has consistently been opposed to.

Just yesterday, after announcing that the company would devote some $45 billion of its $100 billion cash pile to pay dividends and buy back shares in the coming years, Apple also said it will keep $64 billion in cash "offshore" - as in, not in the United States of America.

"Repatriating the cash from offshore would result in significant tax consequences under current U.S. law," Apple's Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer said on Monday during a conference call with members of the media. "We think that the current tax laws provide a considerable economic disincentive to U.S. companies that might otherwise repatriate the substantial amount of foreign cash that they have."

Currently, if Apple brings the money back into the United States it would be taxed at the standard corporate rate of 35 percent. Apple has joined other corporations, including Google, Cisco and Pfizer, in seeking a repatriation holiday that would slash the tax rate on profits broad back from abroad.

Although a proposal remains a hotly debated issue in Congress, the White House seems firmly and unwaveringly against allowing the tax holiday or making special exceptions - regardless of how much President Obama loves his iPhone

Source: International Business Times

[rkswat]

Hey every one, we have a billion plus dollars in the bank!! Oh, of course we don't wan't to pay taxes on that money.... oh no. We only want the benifits of doing business in the US, we don't want to pay our fair share of taxes.
Pathetic.

[ceramicwhite]

Agreed^^^

[Cer0]

Hey every one, we have a billion plus dollars in the bank!! Oh, of course we don't wan't to pay taxes on that money.... oh no. We only want the benifits of doing business in the US, we don't want to pay our fair share of taxes.
Pathetic.

They already paid taxes on it. They just want to bring it home without being taxed even more or at least taxed a little less.

[Aumz]

Apple and companies like this offer no help in driving the economy forward. OK it is not their job to sort out the economy.....then please shut the f up and stop making demands on the govt.

[swifty7]

the u.s. government shouldn't allow companies take their money out of the country if it's over a certain amount, that way they can't argue by saying...either give us a tax break or this country will not see a dime of that money but then again if that happens, top companies will relocate in another country.

[hitman10]

Or maybe its Apple's $$ and they can do what they want w/o the average joe like you and me being the peanut gallery and your government for taking every penny it can. No **** Apple isn't happy. And no wonder Apple doesn't want to deal with them. At least in Canada if we win $1,000,000 we leave with $1,000,000 Tax free none of this taxes crap. So you end up with $250,000. -.- SMH.

[A New DAY]

******* stupid liberals...

[bigstudio]

the u.s. government shouldn't allow companies take their money out of the country if it's over a certain amount...

The money never was in this country to begin with. When Apple sells, say, an iPad in France, that's where the money is. It would be nice to bring that money back to the states, but the tax on that is prohibitive -- more more than the tax Apple would have had to pay if that money was made in this country to begin with. Plus they have ALREADY been taxed on it. Makes no sense to me.

[idkanymore]

Hey every one, we have a billion plus dollars in the bank!! Oh, of course we don't wan't to pay taxes on that money.... oh no. We only want the benifits of doing business in the US, we don't want to pay our fair share of taxes.
Pathetic.

You obviously don't have a clue. How do you know they didn't already pay taxes on that money? They pay taxes on all income. This is a separate issue. Just because it's billions of dollars doesn't mean they want to piss away almost half to the government just for transferring it here. Its like getting your paycheck and the taxes already being taken out, then being charged taxes again for cashing the check.

[fbiryujin]

Or maybe its Apple's $$ and they can do what they want w/o the average joe like you and me being the peanut gallery and your government for taking every penny it can. No **** Apple isn't happy. And no wonder Apple doesn't want to deal with them. At least in Canada if we win $1,000,000 we leave with $1,000,000 Tax free none of this taxes crap. So you end up with $250,000. -.- SMH.

^^^
This

[Nazkira]

Apple doesn't pay much (if any) tax on the profits they offshore. That's the whole point of tax shelters. Now they want us to reward them for it. I love my iDevices, but don't see why Apple needs special tax treatment. They weren't hurting financially, last time I checked.

[SnowLeo]

$64 billion x 35% tax = 22.4 billion US revenue. Imagine all of the things Obama could waste that 22.4 billion on. Or he could just give it right to the big greedy banks who caused our recession. Its the greed of Apple vs. the greed of the US government and in the time of need when the US has less money in the reserve than Apple has in their cash pile the US government wants to get some back just so they can blow it away like most of the bailout money. Gotta love the USA.

Or... an even better idea. Dont mean to sound too radical or unreasonable... But maybe just MAYBE Apple could realize they made a huge a** mistake by doing everything in China and realize that they could make MORE money by keeping their factories in the good Ole USA because Im pretty sure US domestic business taxes are a hell of a lot less than 35%. But no... Apple loves China so they can force children to work 18 hour days for $1/hour. As much as I hate US greed and Obamas politics, Apple needs to finally be taught a lesson that just because your the biggest US company doesnt mean you control the government. This is a democracy for Gods sake not a government run by Apple.
Looks like ole Uncle Sam just took a bite out of the fruit company

[cmwade77]

Huh? How is 35% a fair share?

Taxes should be limited to a sales tax of no more than 10% (combined Federal, Local and State). That would essentially mean that no one would ever be spending more than 10% of their income on taxes under any circumstances. This would ultimately improve the economy and the government would get more money to play with in the long run. Everyone wins and every way pays an equal percentage of their income, doesn't matter how much or how little you make, you pay 10% (perhaps less based on the state and local governments, but never more than 10%), period, end of story. This would also eliminate all income taxes, etc. This means that the IRS could be mostly eliminated, you would still need a few people to ensure that companies pay the sales tax correctly, but this would drastically reduce the size of the IRS and other enforcement agencies, thus reducing the size of government and decreasing their costs.

This might mean that the entire government structure has to be reorganized and run more efficiently, but this can be done.

[drigo1178]

$64 billion x 35% tax = 22.4 billion US revenue. Imagine all of the things Obama could waste that 22.4 billion on. Or he could just give it right to the big greedy banks who caused our recession. Its the greed of Apple vs. the greed of the US government and in the time of need when the US has less money in the reserve than Apple has in their cash pile the US government wants to get some back just so they can blow it away like most of the bailout money. Gotta love the USA.

Or... an even better idea. Dont mean to sound too radical or unreasonable... But maybe just MAYBE Apple could realize they made a huge a** mistake by doing everything in China and realize that they could make MORE money by keeping their factories in the good Ole USA because Im pretty sure US domestic business taxes are a hell of a lot less than 35%. But no... Apple loves China so they can force children to work 18 hour days for $1/hour. As much as I hate US greed and Obamas politics, Apple needs to finally be taught a lesson that just because your the biggest US company doesnt mean you control the government. This is a democracy for Gods sake not a government run by Apple.
Looks like ole Uncle Sam just took a bite out of the fruit company

I'm going to guess that you 1) dont run muti-billion dollar business 2) know nothing about business 3) like to throw money away 4) I'd bet you would take this statement back if the Govy took $35 off every $100 you made.

the reason things arent made in the USA any more is really quite simple. 1) the country is poorly educated 2) people no longer believe in profit margin 3) People are lazy

Ill use GM as a great example; Line workers getting paid $100k a year and they still couldnt get it right. Thus a sub par product.

Cliff Notes: Get Real and take a look around if i was apple ...i wouldnt have my Sh!t built here either.

[Beastly L92]

Maybe if our politicians weren't blowing more than they can print on welfare and warfare, we wouldn't need to milk more than a third of a company's profits in taxes.

[JacquesChirac]

Yea this is ridiculous. Apple and a lot of these other billion dollar corporations have the nerve to push to pay lower taxes than the one in six americans who are below the poverty line (which constitutes a family of four making less than about 20k a year). It's not surprising though. The rewards of lobbying are huge. Just look at GE....

[Jahooba]

Does anyone else see the irony in the fact that Apple doesn't want to pay out 35% when they take 30% from everyone that does business through the App Store?

Of course, Apple is already paying taxes, and a 35% repatriation fee would be ludicrous. Obama and his cronies would simply use that money to fund some new Socialist/ Communist program.

[rudyy50]

Huh? How is 35% a fair share?

Taxes should be limited to a sales tax of no more than 10% (combined Federal, Local and State). That would essentially mean that no one would ever be spending more than 10% of their income on taxes under any circumstances. This would ultimately improve the economy and the government would get more money to play with in the long run. Everyone wins and every way pays an equal percentage of their income, doesn't matter how much or how little you make, you pay 10% (perhaps less based on the state and local governments, but never more than 10%), period, end of story. This would also eliminate all income taxes, etc. This means that the IRS could be mostly eliminated, you would still need a few people to ensure that companies pay the sales tax correctly, but this would drastically reduce the size of the IRS and other enforcement agencies, thus reducing the size of government and decreasing their costs.

This might mean that the entire government structure has to be reorganized and run more efficiently, but this can be done.

I agree.

[Kenn@rd.]

the u.s. government shouldn't allow companies take their money out of the country if it's over a certain amount, that way they can't argue by saying...either give us a tax break or this country will not see a dime of that money but then again if that happens, top companies will relocate in another country.

I agree, apple as we all know it is "gangsta" but somehow, we all in someway, are curious and somewhat interested in their products or p&r. Hmm, namean? Eh,... Fugghetaboutit.