WASHINGTON — Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook strongly defended the company’s tax practices at a Senate hearing on May 21 highlighting the technology giant’s use of Irish subsidiaries to shelter billions of dollars in income from U.S. taxes.
“We pay all the taxes we owe — every single dollar,” Cook told the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
“We not only comply with the laws but we comply with the spirit of the laws,” he said. “We don’t depend on tax gimmicks.”
Cook said the tax code “has not kept up with the digital age” and restricts the free movement of capital in comparison with the codes of other countries. He called for a “dramatic simplification of the corporate tax code,” including lower tax rates and a “reasonable tax on foreign earnings.” read more »
The New York Times
WASHINGTON — Even as Apple became the nation’s most profitable technology company, it avoided billions in taxes in the United States and around the world through a web of subsidiaries so complex it spanned continents and surprised experts, a congressional investigation has found.
Some of these subsidiaries had no employees and were largely run by top officials from the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., according to congressional investigators. But by officially locating them in places like Ireland, Apple was able to, in effect, make them stateless — exempt from taxes, record-keeping laws and the need for the subsidiaries to even file tax returns anywhere in the world. read more »
In an effort to hear directly from the people he represents, U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.) will be holding six town halls around the region during the last week of May.
Doors open a half hour before the start of each town hall. The schedule is as follows:
Port Angeles Town Hall
May 28, noon-1:30 p.m. at Peninsula College, The Little Theater (In Building J, the Pirate Union Building), 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd. read more »
OLYMPIA — Starting Oct. 1, Washington Healthplanfinder will offer some state residents coverage options with lower insurance premiums to go along with increased benefits.
The Washington Health Benefit Exchange learned this week that nine health insurance issuers have filed with the Office of the Insurance Commissioner (OIC) to provide 57 Qualified Health Plans (QHPs) totaling 229 plan options for individuals and families through Washington Healthplanfinder, the state’s new online health insurance marketplace.
“This is great news for residents in our state. The rates we’ve seen filed in the individual market will go a long way to help individuals and families get the right coverage at an affordable price,” said Richard Onizuka, chief executive officer. read more »
Last week I joined over 100 leaders in Washington, D.C., to speak to members of the House of Representatives about a top retail priority issue, marketplace fairness. After more than 10 years of discussion with local, state, and national leaders, I think we are finally ready to resolve the congressional concerns.
Don’t get me wrong, there are still opposition groups out there trying to confuse the issue so that online retailers don’t have to collect sales taxes due to states. The competitive edge of tax-exempt prices continues to erode the growth and survival of our retailers. The winners in this debate have been online retailers who don’t collect sales tax. read more »
OLYMPIA — The Washington State Liquor Control Board (WSLCB) has issued its initial draft rules for the state’s emerging recreational marijuana market. Voters approved legal marijuana for recreational use with the passage of Initiative 502 in November. The WSLCB is seeking public comment on its initial draft rules before initiating the formal draft rule-making process in mid-June. The WSLCB will accept public comment on its initial draft through June 10.
The initial draft rules, posted May 16 on the agency’s website and issued to more than 4,700 subscribers on its I-502 email listserv, reflect the agency’s initial thinking on what Washington’s emerging system of producing, processing and retailing recreational marijuana may look like. read more »
U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.) released the following statement May 14 after Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced the Pentagon will furlough about 800,000 civilian employees for 11 days due to the across-the-board cuts known as “sequestration.” Employees in Navy shipyards will be exempted from furloughs; however, employees throughout Naval Base Kitsap including at Bremerton, Bangor, Naval Hospital Bremerton, Manchester Fuel Depot and NUWC Keyport will be affected. In addition, these impacts will also be felt for Department of Defense civilian employees at Joint Base Lewis McHord in Pierce County and NAVMAG Indian Island in Jefferson County.
In response to the Navy saying it could manage the across-the-board cuts without furloughs to shipyard workers, Kilmer previously signed a letter urging the Department of Defense to allow services the flexibility to deal with the cuts as they see fit rather than imposing one policy across the board. read more »
Last week marked four years since regulators shut down Westsound Bank in Bremerton and sold its deposits to Kitsap Bank. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which took over most of Westsound’s assets, still is owed millions of dollars.
As of March 31, the FDIC as receiver listed nearly $87 million in losses. That’s significantly lower than the $109 million in losses estimated when the bank failed on May 8, 2009. Losses can improve over time because of a healthier economy, higher property values and asset sales.
Not that lawsuits yielded much: The FDIC’s attempt to collect at least $15 million in damages from the bank’s former management and directors ended last November with the agency settling for a measly $1.7 million that was paid by their liability insurer. The case had been scheduled for trial this summer. read more »
Air travelers received a bit of good news recently: A bill to put air traffic controllers back to work whisked through the House and Senate and flew into the White House for President Obama’s signature.
Why the quick action?
Millions of constituents were outraged with how the FAA handled a 4 percent budget cut mandated by the sequester. Instead of focusing on non-essential personnel, the FAA furloughed 10 percent of its 15,000 air traffic controllers each day, causing more than 40,000 flight delays and 1,900 cancelled flights, according to FlightStats.com.
Interestingly, the D.C.-area airports that serve members of Congress were exempt from the service cuts — a pure coincidence, testified one FAA official. Nevertheless, Congress felt the heat from angry voters, and some experienced those delays firsthand when they traveled outside D.C. read more »
