I am no longer very much in favour of Apple. Mind you, this is not because of tax optimization. Rather, it is because they move more and more in the proprietary world, using their technological and economic power in an unethical way. The concern changed. How much openness did we have in one of those OS in former times? And today?
However, what really annoys me is how the “Welt” now berates Apple, just because they kept a few billion dollars from the US Federal Tax Office. They did it simply by declaring some of their profits – totally lawfully – in other countries outside the USA, for instance in Ireland. Well, it was less expensive there, wasn’t it? So they transferred some of the billions they kept from the US Federal Tax Office into other countries because it cost less there. And in doing so, they saved a few billion dollars, too.
This was a bad thing for the US economy, but it was rather nice for the economy in countries like Ireland. And it was good for Apple, because now they can invest some of the money they saved. And it was also good for the shareholders of Apple, because now they can get more dividends.
So what is so bad about it?
We have a free economy. We think globally and we live through a global sharing of labour. Consequently, the huge enterprises, too, operate globally. If they stick by the rules and laws in business – and I mean in the way those rules and laws were written and are intended – then this is fine. To be sure, it might be nice to write values such as “fair” and “upright” into a concern’s statutes, but it is not really helpful, is it?
Because in order for it to be helpful, we would need a categorical imperative, instead of rules. Which is something we (perhaps unfortunately) do not have in business.
And since we actually do have countries with different laws and business is world-wide, the manager in charge actually has the right, if not perhaps even the obligation, to actually take advantage of it – as long as it happens inside the legal boundaries.
And then the “Welt” has no business pointing the finger at them and abusing them. No. If anything, they should point their fingers right back towards themselves. And perhaps change the rules. But I have no idea if that would improve matters.
RMD
(Translated by EG)
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