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El Reg reports
Steve Wozniak has spoken out against Apple's tax affairs, saying all companies ought to pay 50 per cent in taxes.
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live he said: "I don't like the idea that Apple might be unfair--not paying taxes the way I do as a person.
"I do a lot of work, I do a lot of travel and I pay over 50 per cent of anything I make in taxes and I believe that's part of life and you should do it."
Asked if Apple should pay that amount, he replied: "Every company in the world should."
According to Woz, money was never a factor when he started the biz with Steve Jobs 40 years ago. He added: "Steve Jobs started Apple Computers for money, that was his big thing and that was extremely important and critical and good."
Europe is currently scrutinising Ireland's tax arrangements with Apple over an alleged sweetheart deal with the company. Some have speculated the probe could lead to Apple paying $8bn in back taxes, even though the case is against the Irish government.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by acp_sn on Monday April 25 2016, @09:39PM
tl;dr solution: abolish all income and payroll taxes, replace them with a single national property tax and include IP as property
current tax problem (not arguing about size and scope of government, this tax system works equally in a communist dictatorship and a rigid constitutional minarchy):
1. income taxes penalize work and encourage owning stuff
2. the fact that taxes are complicated means that politicians have a lot of power sneaking things into the tax provisions
3. owners of intellectual property are effectively free riders relying on law enforcement to enforce what should be civil torts
basic details:
1. a. figure out the total cost of the federal government for the next year
1. b. figure out the total value of all of the property in the country including IP
1. c. divide the value from a by the value from b and that is the property tax rate (napkin math says 2.3% in 2014 but could be way off)
2. property is things like land, buildings, vehicles, and personal property. Also include bank accounts, stocks, bonds and other investment vehicles and intellectual property
3. calculations for IP taxes are detailed below
Q&A:
Q. what about "family farms" - land and equipment have a lot of value but the output of non-industrial farm tends to not be very high
A. designate certain industries as "nationally critical", allow individually owned (not corporate owned) property working in that industry to be tax deferred until it is transferred to a non-family member then the tax becomes due, tax accrues reasonable interest and the the total amount owed can't go above 100% of the current market value of the property
Q. how is IP priced?
A. every IP owner sets the price annually and puts their IP up for sale at that price, anyone can bid on the IP starting at the owners price, if nobody bids the owner pays the property tax rate and gets IP protection for that year
if someone does bid then the winning bidder pays the owner, takes possession of the IP, and pays the tax on the IP at the new rate
Q. what about capital flight
A. shouldn't be a problem but could initially put a tax of say 5 years worth of property taxes on any money transactions leaving the country, then scale that down each year until it is 0
Q. why is this better than the current system
A. it is fundamentally more fair, property owners "consume" more of the number one function of government which is enforcing property rights
A. it removes the power of politicians to grant favors to their owners/friends - and requires politicains to openly raise the public rate if they want more money to play with
A. the tax burden shifts from workers to owners in a way that lessens the burden for almost everyone
(Score: 2) by Whoever on Tuesday April 26 2016, @03:24AM
Problem:
Middle class older people tend to have plenty of property, smaller incomes and actually vote. This proposal would turn Florida (and probably large parts of California) against any party who implemented it for decades.
(Score: 1) by fubari on Tuesday April 26 2016, @05:13PM
Agreed, MUCH better than income tax.
Seems more like a wealth tax.
1) set income tax = 0.0% (e.g. none)
2) tax wealth @ 0.5% (5/1000, just an example for this thought experiment)
3) balance budget & grow economy
balance budget: puling in way more tax revenue than we do today.
grow economy: taxing money that sits still is an incentive for that money to circulate, or at least for people to think twice about where they park their money.
Wealth = property + things owned.
Some examples...
a) Bank accounts, stocks, bonds.
I would GLADLY trade my income tax %ge for a 0.5% annual tax on what I keep in savings and investments.
b) Physical property (houses, cars, rare paintings, ...)
Insurance companies are regulated; they can provide replacement value + policy duration. 0.5% of the insured value, easy enough.
Again, I would gladly pay 0.5% of the replacement value of my house each year instead of what I pay in income tax (example: $200,000 insurance on house @ 0.5% yields $1,000 per year).
Now imagine this for all corporations and individuals and governments.
I'd set it up for all insurance (property, life, flood, fire, auto, health, ...), no exempt categories otherwise too easy to game the system.
r.e. IP: too hard to value, "auction" is complex and I can see ways to abuse that.
I'd prefer to see whatever wealth is generated from IP be taxed.
Facilities, cash in bank, investments and so on.
r.e. farms:
Don't tax the land value, tax the replacement value of whatever they insure. Farmers insure things like crop damage... property fire insurance for infrastructure & home. Car insurance, truck insurance. If they don't insure a tractor, let it go. Works for conagra as well as Farmer Bob.
It may not be 100% perfect valuation (as if you would get 10 economists to give you the same valuation for an acre of land, or a given patent).
It will be close enough valuation.
It will be 100% fair across the board.
It will be easier to implement.
It works really well for the very poor (no house, no car, no investements? keep pretty much all of your income).
Works not so well for:
tax lawyers, tax accountants, irs auditors