Biting the Apple
Apple is the largest corporate income tax payer in America. They pay $6 billion to the U.S. Treasury. That works out to $16 million per day. It also employs plenty of Americans: 50,000 of Apple’s 75,000 employees are in the U.S. ~ Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook
Now, contrast Apple with those companies who paid no corporate income tax last year. Contrast Apple with companies that have shipped most of their jobs overseas. ~ Kerby Anderson, Point of View
I think Congress should be on trial here for creating a bizarre and byzantine tax code that runs into the tens of thousands of pages, for creating a tax code that simply doesn’t compete with the rest of the world. Instead of calling the Apple executives before the committee, they bring in a giant mirror. If you want to assign blame, the committee needs to look in this mirror and see who created the mess. ~ Sen. Rand Paul
by Paul Jacob, Common Sense: Apple is on trial for refusing to pretend that the company has done something wrong.
In 2009, Apple invited five major publishers to sell e-books through the forthcoming iPad, on the basis of the "agency model." The publishers would set the prices, Apple would take a 30% cut. Apple also required that the e-books not be sold more cheaply elsewhere.
The publishers were happy to agree because Amazon had been buying new e-books wholesale and steeply discounting them, sometimes at a loss to itself, in order to sell them at $9.99. In the eyes of the publishers, this price seemed too low a benchmark. Apple's deal gave them new clout in negotiating with Amazon.
The government says average book prices rose in the wake of this "conspiracy." Apple says prices declined. It's irrelevant.
To charge a price that some persons dislike violates nobody's rights. Nor does stipulating terms of contract that a prospective partner dislikes and may reject. Anti-trust law has nothing to do with justice. It's a bludgeon that some businesses -- in conspiracy with the government -- use to thwack competitors.
No violation of anyone's rights has even been claimed in this case, let alone established. Yet five innocent parties have been forced to pay tens of millions to the government and accede to curtailment of their right to contract. And Apple, having refused to be bullied, must defend itself in court.
That's the crime, and government officials are the ones committing it.
This is Common Sense. I'm Paul Jacob.
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Paul Jacob is President of the Liberty Initiative Fund as well as a board member of Great Communicators Foundation, which sponsors both Common Sense Paul won the “Courage Under Fire” award at the 2009 Conservative Political Action Conference. He has also been named “a rising star in politics” by Campaigns & Elections magazine, received the Society for Individual Liberty’s “Phoenix Award” for “contributions to the advancement of liberty in America,” and was dubbed one of “The Best and the Rightest” by National Journal.
Tags: Apple, trial, abuse by government, Paul Jacob, Common Sense To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Now, contrast Apple with those companies who paid no corporate income tax last year. Contrast Apple with companies that have shipped most of their jobs overseas. ~ Kerby Anderson, Point of View
I think Congress should be on trial here for creating a bizarre and byzantine tax code that runs into the tens of thousands of pages, for creating a tax code that simply doesn’t compete with the rest of the world. Instead of calling the Apple executives before the committee, they bring in a giant mirror. If you want to assign blame, the committee needs to look in this mirror and see who created the mess. ~ Sen. Rand Paul
In 2009, Apple invited five major publishers to sell e-books through the forthcoming iPad, on the basis of the "agency model." The publishers would set the prices, Apple would take a 30% cut. Apple also required that the e-books not be sold more cheaply elsewhere.
The publishers were happy to agree because Amazon had been buying new e-books wholesale and steeply discounting them, sometimes at a loss to itself, in order to sell them at $9.99. In the eyes of the publishers, this price seemed too low a benchmark. Apple's deal gave them new clout in negotiating with Amazon.
The government says average book prices rose in the wake of this "conspiracy." Apple says prices declined. It's irrelevant.
To charge a price that some persons dislike violates nobody's rights. Nor does stipulating terms of contract that a prospective partner dislikes and may reject. Anti-trust law has nothing to do with justice. It's a bludgeon that some businesses -- in conspiracy with the government -- use to thwack competitors.
No violation of anyone's rights has even been claimed in this case, let alone established. Yet five innocent parties have been forced to pay tens of millions to the government and accede to curtailment of their right to contract. And Apple, having refused to be bullied, must defend itself in court.
That's the crime, and government officials are the ones committing it.
This is Common Sense. I'm Paul Jacob.
----------------
Paul Jacob is President of the Liberty Initiative Fund as well as a board member of Great Communicators Foundation, which sponsors both Common Sense Paul won the “Courage Under Fire” award at the 2009 Conservative Political Action Conference. He has also been named “a rising star in politics” by Campaigns & Elections magazine, received the Society for Individual Liberty’s “Phoenix Award” for “contributions to the advancement of liberty in America,” and was dubbed one of “The Best and the Rightest” by National Journal.
Tags: Apple, trial, abuse by government, Paul Jacob, Common Sense To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Posted by Bill Smith at 6:11 PM - Post Link
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