The Best Investment Apple Could Make

An easy way to massively increase R&D, employment, shareholder returns, and even government revenue.

by Richard Rahn
September 6, 2016

Why would the Irish government argue against receiving $14.5 billion (yes that is a billion with a B) in income taxes that the European Union says Apple owes it?

The amount is greater than the entire Irish budget, yet they are saying, “No thank you.” Both the EU and the Apple executives, including CEO Tim Cook, have engaged in tax malpractice – the latter in a very different way than the former (see below).

Politicians love the corporate income tax because it is a hidden tax, while good economists loath it. The politicians can claim they are taxing the evil companies, ignoring the obvious fact that a corporation is nothing more than a legal way of doing business and that all taxes ultimately fall on individual people.

The corporate tax is paid by its customers in higher prices, its workers in the form of lower wages, and by its stockholders in the form of lower returns. The corporate tax is a double tax in that it taxes income that has already been taxed.

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