General Politics Discussion [ARCHIVED] • Page 360

Former Models for Donald Trump's Agency Say They Violated Immigration Rules and Worked Illegally | Mother Jones

 

???

 

Donald Thiel

 

Customer Letter

The European Commission has launched an effort to rewrite Apple’s history in Europe, ignore Ireland’s tax laws and upend the international tax system in the process. The opinion issued on August 30th alleges that Ireland gave Apple a special deal on our taxes. This claim has no basis in fact or in law. We never asked for, nor did we receive, any special deals. We now find ourselves in the unusual position of being ordered to retroactively pay additional taxes to a government that says we don't owe them any more than we've already paid.

The Commission’s move is unprecedented and it has serious, wide-reaching implications. It is effectively proposing to replace Irish tax laws with a view of what the Commission thinks the law should have been. This would strike a devastating blow to the sovereignty of EU member states over their own tax matters, and to the principle of certainty of law in Europe. Ireland has said they plan to appeal the Commission’s ruling and Apple will do the same. We are confident that the Commission’s order will be reversed.

At its root, the Commission’s case is not about how much Apple pays in taxes. It is about which government collects the money.

Taxes for multinational companies are complex, yet a fundamental principle is recognized around the world: A company’s profits should be taxed in the country where the value is created. Apple, Ireland and the United States all agree on this principle.

In Apple’s case, nearly all of our research and development takes place in California, so the vast majority of our profits are taxed in the United States. European companies doing business in the U.S. are taxed according to the same principle. But the Commission is now calling to retroactively change those rules.

Beyond the obvious targeting of Apple, the most profound and harmful effect of this ruling will be on investment and job creation in Europe. Using the Commission’s theory, every company in Ireland and across Europe is suddenly at risk of being subjected to taxes under laws that never existed.

Apple has long supported international tax reform with the objectives of simplicity and clarity. We believe these changes should come about through the proper legislative process, in which proposals are discussed among the leaders and citizens of the affected countries. And as with any new laws, they should be applied going forward — not retroactively.

We are committed to Ireland and we plan to continue investing there, growing and serving our customers with the same level of passion and commitment. We firmly believe that the facts and the established legal principles upon which the EU was founded will ultimately prevail.

 

Can't find the education thread, thought there was one, anyway.

Anyone here go to law school, or even taken the BAR exam? Law has been something I've thought about for years no but never pulled the trigger due to family obligations and the lack of time.

Since I didn't finish school, I'd have to go the CLEP route (College Level Examination Program), but law school would immediately follow.

 

this is totally ok! not an unethical approach to judiciary process! peter thiel wasn't a disturbing precedent!!

 

Didn't he say this, and actually bring libel suits, before Thiel? Trump's got a long history of this.

 

ya, but Donald Trump is a predatory billionaire fascist. u can see how that's worse than a predatory billionaire gay libertarian vampire

 

yes in some form or another, im just mostly reacting to the fact we've now seen it play out in reality (coupled with thiel's lawyer representing trump against politico for the story about melania's immigration status in the 90s)

 

Clearly, Apple doesn't know how the EU works. It is also apparent that they don't like regulation. So, now they're trotting out the same old tropes that one hears out of the mouths of conservatives, i.e., job creation, investment, hurting the consumer and worker. It is, quite simply, a lie.

 

Which part is a lie?

 

Being subjected to taxation and regulations will harm investment, job growth, etc.

Edit: in the letter specifically, all of it isn't a lie. It is, however, composed mostly of talking points regurgitated by republicans.

 

ok like tbh even if apple is being 100% wronged here i dont really give a shit, hope they go under

 

Why?

 

i think they are bad, like all corporations of similar stature

 

How so, specifically with regard to Apple?

 

There was a good piece about how paradoxical it is that people view Tim Cook as a progressive champion except his company abuses cheap laborers and dodges taxes for absurd profits. Let me dig around for it

 

nothing specific in regard to apple. i guess i don't hope they go under so much as i hope the entire system goes? i mean obviously. the point of the post was i dont really feel bad when unimaginably huge multinational corporations are wronged

 

i mean if Hillary Clinton is a progressive there's really no reason Tim Cook can't be. but that's more to do with what 'progressive' actually means. I think "CEO that is good and a net positive influence on the world" is an oxymoron, though

 

You should feel bad about the people of Ireland and the EU as a whole. I think they get the short end of the stick here. If I were a European country outside of the EU, I would do whatever Ireland did to encourage foreign investment.

 

The American Chamber of Commerce in Ireland estimates that companies that are courted to Ireland because of their tax incentives employ roughly 140,000 people in Dublin. So, there is some evidence to support what would happen if Google, Facebook, and Apple leave, because what attracted them to the country in the first place would no longer be there. The issue is not that being subjected to taxation or regulation will harm investment, but that a country is not allowed to decide what rate they would like to charge. Ireland’s primary concern here is protecting domestic investment and jobs, they attract companies by making certain choices about what they collect. They think collecting a little less money in tax leads to more investment and job creation. There's an argument to be made they're wrong about that belief, but I have a hard time with the idea that a country isn't allowed to make that decision for themselves. The EU itself found, "European competition authorities said Apple’s tax arrangements were improperly designed to give the company a financial boost in return for creating jobs in Ireland." The EU commission itself found that the incentive was to create jobs in Ireland, which it did. I don't see the lie. I see a government creating a tax incentive to create jobs in their country and it working. I see that incentive being removed and companies leaving.

 

I guess I feel worse for the child labor they employ to mine the minerals that make the phone work and the workers of Foxconn.