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#Post#: 24155--------------------------------------------------
Σκληρός Στρ&#9
45;σεροΚομμου&
#957;ισμός από Ε&#9
17;!
By: Pinochet88 Date: August 31, 2016, 9:23 am
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Τις άγριες
στασερικές-&#9
54;ομμουνιστι&
#954;ές
διαθεσεις
της δείχνει
η ΕΕΣΣΔ
ξεσκίζοντα&#96
2;
κάθε έννοια
εθνικής
κυριαρχίας
για να
επιβάλλει
ΦΟΡΟΥΣ, ΚΙ
ΑΛΛΟΥΣ
ΦΟΡΟΥΣ, ΚΑΙ
ΑΚΟΜΑ
ΠΑΡΑΠΑΝΩ
ΦΟΡΟΥΣ,
ΦΟΡΟΥΣ ΓΙΑ
ΝΑ ΑΡΠΑΞΟΥΝ
ΤΟΝ ΠΛΟΥΤΟ
ΤΩΝ ΙΔΙΩΤΩΝ,
ΦΟΡΟΥΣ ΓΙΑ
ΝΑ ΜΑΣ
ΚΑΝΟΥΝ
ΦΤΩΧΟΤΕΡΟΥ&#93
1;,
ΦΟΡΟΥΣ ΓΙΑ
ΝΑ
ΨΩΜΙΣΤΟΥΝ
ΟΙ
ΕΞΟΥΣΙΑΣΤΕ&#93
1;,
ΤΑ ΠΑΡΑΣΙΤΑ,
ΟΙ ΚΗΦΗΝΕΣ,
ΤΑ ΣΚΑΤΑ ΤΟΥ
ΠΑΡΑΠΕΤΑΣΜ&#91
3;ΤΟΣ,
ΟΙ ΛΑΘΡΑΙΟΙ
ΚΑΙ ΟΛΟΙ ΟΙ
ΥΠΑΝΘΡΩΠΟΙ,
ΦΟΡΟΥΣ ΓΙΑ
ΜΗΝ ΕΧΕΙ
ΚΙΝΗΤΡΟ Ο
ΛΧΑ ΤΙΜ ΚΟΥΚ
ΝΑ ΚΑΝΕΙ ΤΗ
ΖΩΗ ΤΩΝ
ΑΝΘΡΩΠΩΝ
ΕΥΚΟΛΟΤΕΡΗ
ΜΕΣΩ ΤΗΣ
ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΗΣ
ΑΓΟΡΑΣ,
ΦΟΡΟΥΣ ΓΙΑ
ΝΑ
ΣΚΥΛΕΨΟΥΝ
ΤΟΥΣ ΤΑΦΟΥΣ
ΤΩΝ
ΕΡΓΑΖΟΜΕΝΩ&#92
5;
ΤΑ
ΑΡΠΑΚΤΙΚΑ
ΤΟΥ ΚΡΑΤΟΥΣ,
ΦΟΡΟΥΣ ΓΙΑ
ΝΑ ΚΑΝΟΥΝ
ΑΚΡΙΒΟΤΕΡΑ
ΤΑ ΑΓΑΘΑ ΚΑΙ
ΝΑ
ΧΡΗΜΑΤΟΔΟΤ&#91
9;ΣΟΥΝ
ΤΟΥΣ
ΠΟΛΕΜΟΥΣ
ΚΑΙ ΤΙΣ
ΑΡΓΟΜΙΣΘΙΕ&#93
1;
ΚΑΙ ΤΙΣ
ΥΦΕΣΙΟΓΟΝΕ&#93
1;
ΤΟΥΣ
ΠΟΛΙΤΙΚΕΣ,
ΦΟΡΟΥΣ ΓΙΑ
ΝΑ ΜΑΣ
ΠΝΙΞΟΥΝ ΣΤΑ
ΓΚΟΥΛΑΓΚ,
ΦΟΡΟΥΣ ΓΙΑ
ΝΑ ΜΑΣ
ΕΛΕΓΧΟΥΝ.
ΑΥΤΗ ΕΙΝΑΙ Η
ΕΥΡΩΠΑΪΚΗ
ΕΝΩΣΗ! ΑΥΤΑ
ΘΕΛΕΙ ΚΑΙ
ΔΕΝ
ΔΙΣΤΑΖΕΙ
ΠΟΥΘΕΝΑ ΓΙΑ
ΝΑ ΠΑΡΕΙ
ΤΟΥΣ ΦΟΡΟΥΣ,
ΔΙΑΛΥΕΙ ΚΑΙ
ΕΘΝΗ ΚΑΙ
ΦΥΛΕΣ ΚΑΙ
ΟΙΚΟΓΕΝΕΙΕ&#93
1;
ΚΑΙ
ΑΞΙΟΠΡΕΠΕΙ&#91
7;Σ
ΚΑΙ ΗΘΙΚΕΣ
ΥΠΟΛΗΨΕΙΣ.
ΦΟΡΟΙ
ΠΑΝΤΟΥ, ΜΑΣ
ΠΝΙΓΟΥΝ ΜΑΣ
ΚΑΙΝΕ. ΑΥΤΗ
ΕΙΝΑΙ Η
ΚΟΜΜΟΥΝΙΣΤ&#92
1;ΚΗ
ΕΝΩΣΗ, ΑΥΤΟΣ
ΕΙΝΑΙ Ο
ΚΟΜΜΟΥΝΙΣΤ&#91
9;Σ
ΓΙΟΥΝΚΕΡ,
ΑΥΤΗ ΕΙΝΑΙ Η
ΚΟΜΣΟΜΟΛΑ
ΣΤΑΛΙΝΙΣΤΡ&#92
1;Α
ΜΕΡΚΕΛ. Η
ΜΕΡΚΕΛ
ΕΙΝΑΙ Ο
ΣΤΑΛΙΝ ΚΑΙ Ο
ΣΤΑΛΙΝ
ΕΙΝΑΙ Η
ΜΕΡΚΕΛ. ΚΑΤΩ
Ο
ΚΟΜΜΟΥΝΙΣΜ&#92
7;Σ!
ΠΑΝΩ Ο
ΚΑΠΙΤΑΛΙΣΜ&#92
7;Σ!
ΚΑΤΩ ΟΙ
ΦΟΡΟΙ! ΠΑΝΩ Η
ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΙΑ!
[hr]
[hr]
What just happened to Apple, explained
The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, is ordering
Apple to pay $14.5 billion in taxes to Ireland. But Ireland
doesn't want the money, and Apple says it shouldn't have to pay.
And the kind of tax breaks that the EU accuses Ireland of
offering Apple are similar to the kind of deals common in, and
legal in, the US.
What happened?
This is what the EU says:
Apple Inc., which is based in California, set up two companies
in Ireland: Apple Sales International and Apple Operations
Europe. According to the European Commission, these companies
had no employees or real offices but still realized large
profits. Apple paid virtually no tax to Ireland, or to any
country, on these profits because of a former law in Ireland. In
the last year that the law was in effect, 2015, Apple Sales
International paid just 0.005% tax, according to the commission.
European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager speaks
during an interview with Reuters at the EU Commission
headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, October 9, 2015.
REUTERS/Francois Lenoir EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe
Vestager. Thomson Reuters
The investigation into Apple by the European Commission was led
by Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, a member of Denmark's social
liberal party. The commission is not a tax authority; instead,
its job is to maintain fairness between the EU member states.
And that brings us to the most important part in this story: The
commission says this law specifically favored Apple for special
treatment.
When Apple sold iPhones, iPads, and Macs in an EU single-market
nation, such as France, the commission said Apple would funnel
the profits from France to Ireland and would not pay tax in
either country. But this is not really about Apple's
tax-avoidance strategies, which are infamous.
The European Commission's issue is really not with Apple but
with Ireland.
Aid versus tax
How's this for a tricky balancing act?
EU leaders have no issue with different member nations charging
different corporate-tax rates. That's why it's acceptable for
Ireland to charge businesses a 12.5% income tax whereas France
levies 33.3%.
Apple Europe Ireland tax map The European Commission released
this infographic showing how Apple paid virtually no taxes
through its Irish companies. European Commission
This is crucial because nations want to maintain autonomy over
their fiscal policies. That's part of the ongoing power struggle
between individual nations and the EU (remember Brexit?). What's
not acceptable is what the EU calls "state aid." This is when a
country offers something special that's seen as benefiting an
individual company.
It can be even more basic. If France taxed companies in the
north less than those in the south, that's generally state aid
in the EU's view. It's the same with trying to get a German
company to move to Denmark by abating property taxes for a new
headquarters.
"The view is that not levying taxes that everyone else has to
pay amounts to the same result as giving money to just one
company," Philipp Werner, a partner in the law firm Jones Day's
Brussels office who has represented multinational companies
appealing state-aid decisions, told Business Insider.
If Apple had just paid the standard 12.5% income tax in Ireland,
the country wouldn't have EU leaders upset in Brussels. Instead,
the commission says Ireland gave Apple "selective tax treatment"
starting in 1991, with the first of two tax rulings. In effect,
Ireland signed off on a plan in which Apple would move money to
a stateless "head office" with no meaningful activities.
"Therefore, only a small percentage of Apple Sales
International's profits were taxed in Ireland, and the rest was
taxed nowhere," the commission said in a press release.
Ireland explicitly said this was fine by its standards. But the
EU contends that this arrangement "gave Apple an undue advantage
that is illegal under EU state aid rules."
"Apple entered into a deal with Ireland to not pay tax on all
those profits," Edward Kleinbard, a professor of law and
business at the USC Gould School of Law, told Business Insider.
Instead, Apple paid "an arbitrarily small amount to Ireland in
return for a vague promise to keep jobs in Ireland."
Apple and Ireland aren't the commission's first targets. There
were similar rulings against the Starbucks' tax dealings in the
Netherlands and a division of Fiat in Luxembourg.
Apple and Ireland have a different view
Ireland's Finance Minister Michael Noonan attends an interview
with Reuters at his office in central Dublin February 11, 2014.
REUTERS/Cathal McNaughton Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan.
Thomson Reuters
Apple was one of the first major tech companies to set up shop
in Ireland. At the time, in 1980, Ireland was in bad economic
shape. Unemployment was high, and many people left Ireland to
try to find work in other countries.
Low corporate tax was one way Ireland improved its economy and
attracted big companies, and Apple was one of the early
companies to benefit.
Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan has categorically rejected
the notion that this was a special deal for Apple.
"The Irish Revenue don't do deals," Noonan told CNBC on August
30. "They issue opinions to clarify a tax situation for
individual companies, but we never do deals." He continued to
say that Apple doesn't owe any taxes to Ireland. "They may owe
it elsewhere, but not to the Irish authorities."
To underscore the delicate relationship, Noonan accused the
commission of meddling in the policies of sovereign governments.
For its part, Apple CEO Tim Cook shot back, saying in an open
letter that 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."
Both Ireland and Apple say the company has become a big part of
the Irish economy, with 6,000 workers there. And Cook also
objected to the ruling being retroactive. Under EU rules, it can
compel a country to collect taxes going back 10 years from the
first date it asked for information.
Ireland doesn�t want the money
Here's one of the ironies: The EU is, in effect, ordering
Ireland to collect a lot of money. Most, if not all, of the
$14.5 billion would go to Ireland and could be used to pay down
debts. But Ireland is not interested.
"Although they get a huge amount of money back, they also want
to fight it," said Werner at Jones Day. "They're not only
thinking about Apple � they're thinking a whole lot of other
companies established in Ireland."
Losing this battle will hurt Ireland's credibility as an
inexpensive place to do business, and a place where tax laws are
clear and settled.
Why is the US fighting this?
Jack Lew Secretary of Treasury US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew.
REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
Another irony: You might think the US would applaud any effort
to collect tax from US-based multinationals using Irish
subsidiaries to pay less, or zero, tax. But there are a few
reasons the US Treasury department is vehemently against this EU
ruling and other pending cases targeting companies, such as
Amazon.
One is simple: It wants to protect US businesses, and the
Treasury says they're being unfairly targeted by this EU
crackdown.
Second, the US wants to preserve tax revenue it hopes one day
will come its way.
Companies like Apple say US taxes are too high, so they keep
foreign earnings overseas. But Congress has long debated ways to
get multinational American companies to repatriate some of that
cash. The Treasury Department says if the commission wins this
case, US companies could use these taxes paid in Europe to
offset US taxes. That, it says, "would effectively constitute a
transfer of revenue to the EU from the US government and its
taxpayers," according to a Treasury white paper.
What about other European countries?
In his letter, though, Cook may have stepped into another debate
over its aggressive tax avoidance by saying, " A company�s
profits should be taxed in the country where the value is
created." This is a different issue.
If Apple made money in France but realized those profits in
Ireland, it is up to France, not the EU, to complain and try to
get some of that money back.
The whole reason Apple's European operations are in Ireland,
after all, are for its tax advantages. The question is just
whether Apple received illegal special treatment.
Wait, don't these tax breaks happen in the US all the time?
tesla gigafactory Tesla's Gigafactory, in Nevada, received the
kind of tax breaks that would be illegal in the EU.
YouTube/Above Reno
One reason all this might seem odd to Americans is that the
"special treatment" Ireland is accused of giving Apple is
similar to incentives American states give companies all the
time legally.
Massachusetts, for instance, put together $145 million in
incentives to persuade General Electric to move from suburban
Connecticut to Boston.
Never mind that some research suggests these sweetheart deals
often don't pay off. Politicians can't stop offering them.
When Tesla said publicly it wanted to build a Gigafactory to
produce batteries, states like California, Nex Mexico, and
Nevada stumbled over themselves to offer the most generous tax
breaks. In the end, Nevada agreed to $1.2 billion in tax
incentives to win the deal. If these deals were issued by France
to attract a company based in Denmark, it would be illegal under
EU rules.
What about inversions?
Some American companies have gone further than Apple to take
advantage of Irish tax breaks. Pharmaceutical firm Allergan has
acquired or formed Irish subsidiaries and then "inverted," or
transferred its legal headquarters to Ireland. Even if its
headquarters were in the US, it is effectively an Irish company.
"Inversions are separate but related," Kleinbard said. Companies
that invert "take advantage of an easily manipulated definition
of what is a US company."
Nothing in the European Commission ruling affects inversions.
It's up to US authorities to crack down if they want to stop the
practice. Congress, for instance, could change tax law to
consider a company American if its leadership and most of its
workers are based in the US.
What's next?
Apple, the most profitable company in the world, and Ireland,
which has some of the lowest corporate taxes, made easy targets
for the European Commission. But it's clearly not done yet. It's
targeting McDonald's for allegedly paying no tax on its earnings
in Luxembourg. The antitrust regulators are also looking into
Amazon.
Ireland, however, will almost surely appeal the ruling against
its dealings with Apple. It has a lot more on the line than
$14.5 billion.
http://bc.vc/Lu0CFZI
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