A Colourful Day

纽约时报曝光苹果去年避税十亿 分析其避税方法 全球盈利最高的科技公司苹果并没有在内华达州雷诺市设计 iPhone 或提供 AppleCare 客户服务，它也没有在附近地区生产 MacBooks 或是 iPad。但它在雷诺市设了一个小小的办事处，安排了一小部分员工。虽然这个办事处规模不大，但却从事着与苹果的核心企业战略密切相关的工作，它帮助苹果避开了加州和另外 20 个州上千万美元的税。 苹果总部设在加州库伯蒂诺市，雷诺市与库伯蒂诺市相距仅 200 英里。雷诺市的办事处主要收集苹果的利润并进行投资，通过这种方式，苹果避开了一部分利润的所得税。原因是什么呢？因为加州的企业税率为8.84%，而内华达州的企业税率为0。 在雷诺市设办事处只是苹果为了避税而采取的许多合法方法之一，苹果每年合法避税的数额高达数十亿美元。与内华达州的情况一样，苹果还在爱尔兰、荷兰、卢森堡和英属维京群岛等低税率地区设立了不少分公司，以帮助它减少纳税。 当然，几乎每一家大公司都会想方设法将税款降低到最低水平。对于苹果来说，避税节省下来的钱可是一笔大数目，因为它的利润实在是太高了。华尔街分析师预计，苹果本财年的净利润最多可达 456 亿美元，这将创下全美商业公司净利润最高的新纪录。 现在的纳税法规是为工业时代编写的，不太适用于现在的数字经济。苹果是科技巨头如何利用旧的纳税法规钻空子避税的典范。许多公司如苹果、谷歌、亚马逊、惠普和微软等的某些利润并非来自实体产品，而是来自软件专利等知识产权的版税。还有些时候，产品本身是数字形态的，比如下载的歌曲。拥有版税和数字产品的公司比杂货商或汽车厂商更容易将利润转移到低税率国家和地区，因为它们的产品在哪里销售都是一样的。 不断增长的数字经济给监管企业纳税的立法者提出了难题。虽然科技行业是美国最大和最有价值的行业之一，但许多科技公司缴纳的税金却很少。在过去的两年里，标准普尔 500 指数中 71% 的科技公司缴纳的全球现金税的平均税率比其他公司低三分之一。 即使在科技公司中，苹果缴税的税率也是很低的。虽然苹果推动了整个科技行业的进步，刺激了经济的增长，满足了无数客户的需求，但它还是制定出各种企业战略来利用纳税法规中的漏洞。 例如，许多科技公司指示高税率国家的海外销售人员以代表其他地区的低税率国家的方式展开工作，以达到避开营业税的目的。苹果就是最早一批采取这种避税手

Hh gonna love it very much.

凌霄花 黄金雨

-- Photos shared with Fish Bowl Photo Gallery. http://www.pixiereef.com

Also the tap is hard to switch on/off -- Photos shared with Fish Bowl Photo Gallery. http://www.pixiereef.com

-- Photos shared with Fish Bowl Photo Gallery. http://www.pixiereef.com

Bloomberg News, sent from my Android phone April 19 (Bloomberg) -- Like many users of mobile devices, Arvind Jain is annoyed by how long it takes Web pages to load over cellular connections. The Google Inc. engineering director is continually monitoring Internet-access rates -- from hotels, offices and airport lounges around the world -- looking for ways to speed things up. Jain's mission: get websites to load over mobile- phone networks twice as quickly as they do now. Today's times are typically 9.2 seconds in the U.S. The goal is part of a companywide initiative for Google, the world's biggest search-engine provider, which aims to use faster mobile Internet access to unlock billions of dollars in additional e-commerce and online advertising. When people are waiting for pages to load, they aren't shopping or viewing ads. That's hampering everyone from giant Internet companies to local businesses trying to reach customers. "There's a clear correlatio

Windyridge Garden, at Queens Avenue, Mount Wilson, is open daily 9am-4.30pm. Entry is $9, children $3, and includes tea, coffee and biscuits. Phone 4756 2019, see windyridge.com.au . Merry Garth, at Davies Lane, Mount Wilson, is open daily 9am-6pm. Entry $5, children free. Phone 4756 2121. No two people will agree on the best garden in the area but there seems to be a wide acceptance that no visit to Mount Wilson is complete without seeing Nooroo, at Church Lane, with its famous wisteria collection. Open Fri-Sun 10am-4pm until November 13. Entry $8, children $2. Phone 4756 2018. Yengo Sculpture Gardens, at Queens Avenue, Mount Wilson, is open weekends 10am-6pm. Entry $7. Phone 4756 2002; yengo-sculpture-garden-welcome.com . Breenhold Gardens, at The Avenue, Mount Wilson, is open weekends 10am-5pm. Entry $7.50, children $2. Phone 9968 1232, see breenhold.com.au . Bebeah, at The Avenue, Mount Wilson, is open daily 10am-5pm. Entry $8, children $2. Phone 4756 2014.

Easter long weekend

Easter long weekend