84 replies to this topic

[weener]

Texas House committee passes tax break for yacht owners

[JRC]

Texas House committee passes tax break for yacht owners

What are you complaining about, just buy a fuckin' yacht and take the tax break already?!

[raubhimself]

Shizz yacht??? Do they have tax break for champagne and caviar and hiring Michael McDonald? Cus they should!

[jeremx]

Shizz yacht???

"Son?" "Yeah, Dad?"
"How was your day, son?"
"Great, Dad. How's yours?"
"Super. Say, how would like to go fishing this weekend?"
"Great, Dad. But I got homework to do."
"That's okay, son. You can do it on the boat."
"Gee!"
"Hon, isn't our son swell?"
"Yes, dear. Isn't life swell?"

[dharma_bum]

must suck to be poor. i am rich and you don't see me flaunting it.

[fatguyaz]

hi,do you know me?I think you must have never know me,I am new here,you will be familiar with me in the future,please remmember me,I am dmjy510,a special name and it is easy to keep it in mind.

It's like... the bots are funny now?

[thebiggameover]

"hi,do you know me?I think you must have never know me,I am new here,you will be familiar with me in the future,please remmember me,I am dmjy510,a special name and it is easy to keep it in mind."

[hexaclopsclopsclops]

"hi,do you know me?I think you must have never know me,I am new here,you will be familiar with me in the future,please remmember me,I am dmjy510,a special name and it is easy to keep it in mind."

I hope he's rich!

[Tony]

Texas House committee passes tax break for yacht owners

yikes. even i can't defend that one.

well, i sort of can.

According to AP, Davis authored the bill out of fear that yacht owners would start buying their boats in Florida, which has a similar law.

that actually makes some sense. if i had the money to spend half a million on a yacht and somebody told me i could save tens of thousands of dollars in taxes if i bought it in florida, i'd probably do it. so for texas, it makes sense. enact the tax break and get the tax up to $250k, or get nothing. of course, the fact that florida has that law is disturbing on multiple levels.

[raubhimself]

I was curious what the actual yacht sales numbers were for Texas because really, how many people are buying yachts to warrant a tax bill based around them? Couldn't find that but I did find an article about national boat sales.

http://www.denisonya...s-rise-in-2010/

Yacht sales numbers improved in 2010, but fewer sales of smaller and mid-sized boats in the last part of the year resulted in only modest gains for the year overall.

29,494 boats changed hands, an 8% increase from 2009 (27,195 boats sold). Total boat sales valuation for the year increased $500 million, to $3.2 billion, a gain of 19%.

The rich get bigger and more valuable boats while the poor can't afford quite as many boats. I call for nationalized boating reform.

But seriously I have a friend who is in the business of building boats and for his sake I hope people can keep affording boats because I know the market is tough.

[Guy In Rubber Suit]

Rich people and their yachts. I guess have a raft made of dried palm trees and a sail made of several used boxers strung together is not good enough for you? Excuse me while I sail off on my SS Raft McShanty!

[raubhimself]

This could be us...

[Jacki O.]

How Apple Avoids Paying Its Fair Share


Apple looks downright patriotic next to master tax dodgers like General Electric and Boeing, but it still pays far less than it should.
May 31, 2011


I’m an Apple fan. I’m writing on my third Mac laptop in a decade. I’ve purchased over $100,000 of Apple products for my staff over the same period. Plus all those iTunes gift cards for my teenage daughter.

So I was disappointed to learn that Apple is a tax dodger.

Sure, Apple pays some U.S. corporate income taxes. It looks downright patriotic next to master tax dodgers like General Electric and Boeing that have paid zero U.S. taxes for years. But Apple pays far less than it should.

Here's how: Apple shifts patents and intellectual property, which are among its biggest assets, to subsidiaries in other countries that are low- and no-tax havens. These include Ireland and the Netherlands, which have especially favorable tax rates on royalties from intellectual property.

When Apple sells an iPad or a MacBook, it allocates a portion of the profits to the offshore subsidiary that owns the patent. This tax dodge is sometimes referred to as the “Irish Two Step” or the “Dutch Sandwich.” But for Apple, we should call it the “Offshore Tax Haven Shuffle.”

Last year, Apple claimed that just 13.9 percent of its profits came from U.S. operations. This is a fantastic fib. Consider all those Americans walking around with iPhones, iPods, iPads, and MacBooks. Think of all those folks buying music on iTunes, sending a buck to Apple for each song. Think of customers lined up at those glitzy Apple stores, like the three-story iPlex down the street from me in Boston.

How is it possible that less than 14 percent of this company's profits come from the United States? Is it because Europeans and the expanding middle-classes of India and China are snatching up Apple products by the boatload?

Nope. That low percentage is an accounting fiction that goes to the heart of the tax dodge. Apple methodically shifts its U.S. profits off shore.

Another clue that Apple is ethically rotten is that it's spearheading a national coalition to lobby Congress for a “tax holiday” for offshore profits.

Apple has teamed up with other technology companies like Google, Oracle, Cisco, Microsoft and Adobe, drug giant Pfizer, and utility leaders including Duke Energy to form “WinAmerica,” a slickly messaged campaign to press Congress for an $80 billion tax cut.

U.S. firms have stashed over $1.2 trillion in profits offshore. They want Congress to allow them to “repatriate” these profits at a 5 percent tax rate rather than the 35 percent rate that's legally due when foreign earnings are brought back stateside. If Congress approves this “tax holiday,” Apple alone will dodge an estimated $4 billion in taxes.

Given the budget cuts our communities are facing, it seems reckless for Congress to even consider another tax giveaway to companies playing offshore games. It’s unfair to individual taxpayers and small businesses that have to pick up the slack for tax shufflers like Apple.

In 2004, Congress passed a similar tax holiday — with Apple dodging $255 million at the time. These tax dodgers argue they will create jobs if they’re allowed to bring their profits home lightly taxed. But independent studies show that the 2004 tax holiday did little to create jobs. In fact, profits mostly went to boost stock prices and CEO pay, and enable companies to buy back stock.

Apple should disclose more information to its shareholders, customers and the public. At a time of huge public service cuts and fiscal austerity, why should we the taxpayers give Apple a $4 billion tax break?

Congress should reject the corporate tax holiday for the obvious reason that it encourages bad behavior. If these global companies know that every six years Congress will bail them out with a tax holiday, they’ll continue their offshore games.

[billy]

All rich people must die.

Including their kids.

Shitty music is fueled by rich parents.

Quit your shitty rich kid bands and go to fucking college already, you're getting in the way of artists who have seen a little adversity and might have something interesting to say.

Just kidding, I love rich kids!

[hexaclopsclopsclops]

Dutch Sandwich.