So you're even defending them for defrauding governments with billions of dollars of tax evasion... Tax avoidance is being clamped down on hard all across Europe, Apple better be prepared to pay what they owe or fuck off. To think that a rate which effectively less than 0.1% is fair you'd have to be a looney. It is illegal in Europe to give preferencial tax rates to any one company which is less than your normal rate. Normal rate in Ireland is 12.5% so giving them a rate of 1% is illegal and constitutes state aid. Apple should pay up as should any company that avoids tax. They and Ireland have broken the laws Ireland signed up for when joining the EU and when Apple decided to trade in Europe.
Sennheiser HD600, HD800, Audiotechnicas. Compared to any decent set of wired headphones, they sound like absolute trash. If your only point of comparison is Beats by Dr Dre, sure they sound fine. If you have ever listened to good headphones, you would never settle for such trashy sound quality. I also own several of the portable bluetooth speakers of which you speak. Got them as a gift. They sound so bad they just sit in a drawer. That's the only thing I agree with. They did it so they could price gouge for shitty $160 wireless earbuds. There is no justification for it other than greed. I think you have Stockholm Syndrome. Apple could shit in your mouth, and you would be telling us about the delightfully nutty taste of the shit. There are other brands dude. Your cult leader Steve Jobs is dead. You could run away. You don't have to put up with the abuse any more.
Ireland's government gave them the tax break, so that's not fraud. Just like when U.S. corporations can pay an effective rate of 0% in the United States legally, you can't say that it's fraud. Is it a good idea? Probably not. Does Apple need the low rate? Probably not. However, that's the problem with the EU charging them under illegal state-aid. The EU has to prove that Apple needed the tax break to compete in the European market.
No it doesn't, as I said before it is illegal to give a company preferential tax rates under EU law which constitutes state aid. They can show apple paid less than 1% when they should have been paying 12.5%, I think apple are gonna have to pay up and they will no longer be able to get away with it. I have tax avoiders, too many venerable people who need help while the rich take the pics. Apple are so rich that it is even worse.
lol, tax breaks for mega corporations are bad, except when it's Apple. Then Apple is just being savvy with their money. Does Apple hold indoctrination sessions in their stores? I'd really like to know how Apple man ended up so brainwashed.
So your starting price point for "decent" headphones is $330 and up? And you're saying wireless is too expensive? That doesn't really make any sense.
Yes it does. Those headphones sound good enough that they are worth the money. You can't achieve that level of sound quality with current wireless technology. With the earbuds, you are getting the same sound quality as the shitty $5 pack-in Apple buds, except they are now $160.
So you think every corporation in every EU member state pays them the exact same tax rate in that country? Baloney. It isn't really about Apple receiving a different rate than another company. It's about the EU suddenly deciding that transfer pricing can be considered a form of subsidy that provides a competitive advantage in the market…which they have never done previously in other state-aid cases.
"The Commission has also been investigating tax transfer pricing at Fiat, McDonald's, Starbucks and Amazon.com Inc. The companies and the countries which gave the rulings all deny special treatment was given and have launched, or are considering, legal appeals." I'm always in support of going after these tax cheats. But they will just uproot to the next tax haven...
Then what is Sennheiser doing producing wireless headphones? https://en-us.sennheiser.com/momentum-wireless-headphones-with-mic
Believe me, I think corporations should be paying higher tax rates. However, it looks like the EU is trying a new angle that they haven't used before, so it's not exactly a slam dunk legally. Plus, the EU has members like Germany that have gigantic trade surpluses vs. the rest of the world, so it's not like the EU doesn't deserve some scrutiny for a maneuver that is largely targeting U.S. corporations.
I don't think it will open new tax havens. So many countries are now in the EU that there won't be anywhere left to hide. They all have to abide by the same rules.
A few years ago, Fastmoney explained briefly how Apple was avoiding US taxes. A subsidiary in Ireland holds their IPs. They commission new IP's with R&D from Cupertino. Then the designs from California are licensed out the manufacturing and sales subsidiaries in local markets. Each local subsidiary pay nominal taxes on tiny profits and send the bulk of money back to Ireland in the form of a license fee. The money stays in Ireland leaving huge R&D expenses in Cupertino with little profit. Basically that structure can be moved from Ireland to the Cayman Islands in 1 hours worth of paperwork. *Interesting note* They also mentioned how IRS auditors were assigned to Apple HQ full time just waiting for them to fuck something up. After Tim Cook took over, Apple has started to pay billions (but still low %) in tax to US Govt. I think Steve Jobs was just a notorious tightwad.
I tried to courageously upgrade to iPhone 7 only to find out BestBuy doesn't support 2 year contract subsidies anymore.... They are really pushing the shitty leases and installments plans. I have to scheme my upgrade all over again. Hope the phone doesn't depreciate to to shit in the meantime.
Aren't all the carriers basically giving them away with trade in? Reminds me of the free Windows 8 upgrade. http://www.t-mobile.com/offer/apple...pid=10451&cmpid=WTR_AF_Slickdeals+LLC&irgwc=1 https://www.verizonwireless.com/?_requestid=237154 https://www.sprint.com/landings/iphone-forever/index_p.html#!/
It's close but not the same.... The upgrade in 12 months offers mean you're trading in your owned iPhone for a 12 month lease and will get fucked next year. The 24 month installment plan is similar but you pay tax on full $650 instead of the $199 subsidized rate. Some forums also indicate a monthly access charge will be billed that I currently don't pay. Previously, I used to trade up my phone and had credit leftover with BestBuy. I can still do this transaction piecemeal by getting the subsidized rate from carrier then manually flip old one on eBay. C'est la vie.
I think the main thing for supersonic is that he doesn't want to swap his current plan. he's grandfathered into one of the old subsidized plans which allows you to make out like a bandit if you upgrade every year. so if he takes advantage of the trade in promos, they'll force him into the newer unsubdized plans which he'll lose his advantages
I was finally able to get my iphone 7 plus yesterday. kind of weird how apple distributes iphones from what i'm use to with other things. i had my preorder in on the preorder launch day but late in the day (sept 9th 7pm) so my shipping date was showing nov. apple ships out iphones on a regular basis to stores in the meantime with no priority on the backorders. i never realized this until recently and decided to just test an apple store reservation since i had this weekend off from work. i changed my mind and got a matte black 128GB instead of jet black.
I didn't want to criticize your sense of style before.... but the matte black > jet black. You made the right decision.
Heh, that jet black was basically a decision i had to make on the spot just to get the preorder in as soon as i could. before that, i didn't have much time to look at the videos or photos from the keynote or anything since i wrapping up things before my 2 week vacation (started right after preorder day). I was finally able to see displays of them when i came back from vacation. the jet black felt like the old galaxy s3/note 2 and earlier builds. full on glossy plastic. at the end of the day, i throw a case on it anyways.