What does it do to Reindeer, Nevada, a small office of the Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC),? In those parts – the Sierra Nevada stands out a few miles to the west – a tourist imagines finding the typical medium-sized American city, entirely centered on the attractions of the "first avenue", with its luminous billboards, the pyrotechnic lights of the casinos and colorful fast food signs. All calibrated, obviously, on the tones of the natural and folkloric context of the place.
In Reno, of course, there is no shortage of all this. But there is also the local headquarters of the giant of Cupertino. A presence that clashes? Perhaps. On closer inspection, however, in the economic fabric of Nevada there are dozens of large multinationals that have planted headquarters on the spot. I am subsidiaries which have nothing to do with either the "head" or the "arms" of the great giants. If comparative advantage and specialization don't come into play here, then there's only one raison d'être of Apple's Nevada office: you pay less taxes.
The giant created by Steve Jobs, which last year has accumulated over 34 billion in profits, he paid taxes, alone 3,3: 9,8% of the total. A "corporate tax rate” which dwarfs not only the average European figure (not to mention the Italian case, close to 50%), but also the generous 12,5% Irish.
The Reno office, owned by the subsidiary “Braeburn Capital“, acts as a magnet for the capital of the parent company: in Nevada the corporate tax rate is equal to zero. If, on the other hand, Apple invested its profits in Cupertino, it would pay the8,84% tax. Unfair competition? Perhaps. In reality it is simple - and very legal - tax avoidance. The more hated, in the USA, by the champions of redistributive justice, the more arrogant the republican reaction to the state's fiscal hunger is confirmed, whenever it can: a central and necessary debate in Italy which instead, in the United States, has become an authentic political propaganda ram, beyond any reasonable and desirable bipartisan evaluation of fair redistributive justice policies.
The problem is not one of industrial ethics, but one of politics: many argue that giving economic actors the opportunity to save money and condemning their behavior when they do so is a contradiction that underlines the weakness of elected representatives in the face of the individualism of the market. However, nothing will prevent Tim Cook, the CEO with the name of a pirate, from exponentially increasing profits in 2012, which will take the road to Nevada.
Read also: New York Times
