Tax and Spend

Tim Cook says Apple will repatriate billions in profits to be taxed.

Apple's tax problems with EU and Ireland illustrate why competing tax domains is a good idea.

"Of course, government economists have been doing their part as well to try to sugar-coat the pill of tax increases. They never refer to [the suppression of tax loopholes] as “increases.” They have not been increases at all; they were “revenue enhancement” and “closing loopholes.” The best comment on the concept of “loopholes” was that of Ludwig von Mises. Mises remarked that the very concept of “loopholes” implies that the government rightly owns all of the money you earn, and that it becomes necessary to correct the slip up of the government’s not having gotten its hands on that money long since."

Excellent.

"This might be a fatal mistake which will destroy Brussels’s authority. Indeed, the Irish government just challenged the European Commission and reclaimed its right not to tax Apple. The Irish finance minister warned that he will fight the European Commission through the courts."

Calling it a right not to tax is a bad choice of words.

Prosecutors accuse Duke of scientific fraud to obtain $200 million in research grants. Government money is the problem with science.They all do it. This case had to be extremely arrogant for prosecutors to care.