iDodge

(This is beside the subject but people affected by tornadoes - my heart goes out to you. People unaffected, send food, blankets and money now.)

I don't make an awful lot of money compared to most. I'm self-sufficient but I'm not rolling in cash, God knows. So you may be surprised that I have the latest iMac, the latest iPhone and a 2nd Generation iPad. The 2nd generation is said to get better battery life and doesn't heat up to egg-frying levels. I bought all this stuff new, and I paid full sales tax, state and local, on every one of them.

Distressingly, Apple itself wasn't quite so ingenuous. Tim Cook testified in the Senate about the taxes his company hasn't paid.
 

"We pay all the taxes we owe — every single dollar," Cook told the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

"We not only comply with the laws but we comply with the spirit of the laws," he said. "We don't depend on tax gimmicks."

Cook said the tax code "has not kept up with the digital age" and restricts the free movement of capital in comparison to the codes of other countries. He called for a "dramatic simplification of the corporate tax code," including lower tax rates and a "reasonable tax on foreign earnings."

Rand Paul, quoted later in the same piece:

"Frankly, I’m offended by the tone and tenor of this hearing," Paul said, calling the session a "show trial." He noted that Corning makes the Gorilla Glass for Apple products in Kentucky.

"I’m offended by a $4-trillion government bullying, berating and badgering one of America’s greatest success stories," he said. "Tell me what Apple’s done that is illegal."

Congress should apologize for creating a "bizarre and byzantine tax code" and should compliment Apple for its job creation, he said.

"They’re doing what their shareholders ask, which is to maximize profit," Paul said.

"A show trial?" Does Rand Paul understand how Senate hearings work?  They're show trials by definition, babe.

The thing is,  it's great that Apple is doing so well and that they employ so many people. But their success could be doing you and me a lot more good than it is. They're so well-known for employing Chinese labor to assemble their beautiful iPads, and as far as I can see their American employment is limited to Apple Store employees (minimum wage) code-monkeys and very very VERY well-compensated executives. Who can also dodge taxes legally.

WAMK had this mildly incoherent observation to make: 

Will the Left show as much "outrage" against Big Apple as it does against Big Oil?

And I admit that I'm writing this partially in response. My response to both is the same - no protests, but I'd like to see both paying more taxes because the United States needs the money. Howzabout we simplify the tax code so this kind of dodging is not legal? Congress could work on that, THEN repeal Obamacare.