According to a report done by Citizens for Tax Justice and nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Apple paid a 31% tax rate, just shy of the 35% corporate rate. Intel was also among the few tech companies paying a 31% tax rate.
The study examined 280 corporations on the Fortune 500 list. Of those 280 companies, 30 paid nothing in federal taxes over the past 3 years. These companies received over $223 billion in tax subsidies. That's money that could have gone to measures like health care reform, job creation, or simply to combat the deficit.
Other tech companies on the list, such as HP, Yahoo, and Amazon paid far less than 30% in taxes. Amazon, for example, paid only 7.9% in taxes on 1.8 billion dollars of yearly profit between 2008 and 2010. If Amazon paid the same tax rate that Apple had paid, they would have paid over 400 million more in taxes over the two year period.
The Occupy movement has brought more attention to corporate greed, corruption, and questioning corporation involvement in politics. Corporations, through lobbying and campaign contributions, have managed to ensure that laws and policies benefit their businesses. They've gotten away with scamming the government and American people out of billions of dollars. With these things in mind, consumers may want to avoid buying products or services from companies that dodge taxes. It's good to know that Apple is on the right side of the fence here.
via CultOfMac
