I did not mean the average Joe was cheating on his taxes, but rather that the corporations believe they have a mandate to do so when the average Joe says things like "well all companies do it, so I guess it's okay" thus giving it his nod of approval.  However, I do believe that many ordinary folk think it's okay to cheat on taxes because companies do it all the time... and while many of the deductions are legal, just how many of them did they honestly incur?  In other words, just because a deduction is legal, it doesn't necessarily mean the claims are all truthful.

As for demanding change, even if I had a few million signatures on a petition, this Australian government will never change the status quo because it has too may parliamentarians with vested interests in the corporate world, so to come down on Apple, etc, means coming down on themselves. And I'd be willing to bet the same applies in the US, the UK and other countries.

Starkers I'm wondering if you caught one of the links in the article you linked in the o/p - hopefully it'll make you feel a little better. It does appear that at least some of the "right" people are aggravated.

http://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/cautious-praise-ireland-closing-apple-082958474.html

Assuming QE is maintained indefintely, do you expect the 25% market return to be sustainable year after year, or did this happen to be a unusually good year, and other factors, in addition to QE, are keeping it at that rate?

It's a step in the right direction, but as several commenters alluded to, it will not do alot to stop multinationals exploiting the 'Double Irish' loophole.

Truth is, the wealthy have the system sewn up so the rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer.

EDIT:

At the end of the day, though, we are all to blame for the current situation.  We all want bargains and to pay less at the checkout.  We all would rather pay less tax and for other government charges. And we all want to keep as much of our own money to ourselves.  It's human nature, I guess.  However, it's still very much a case of be careful of what you wish/ask for.... because the corporations are more adept at getting what they want, and while the average Joe might be saving a buck or two here and there, these multi-national corporations such as Apple, when they follow Average Bloke's lead. are leaving huge vacuums in the economies of every nation that hosts them.

So, to cut a long story short, the human race is inherently greedy... and what we got is what we asked for.

No. It can't go on forever. Eventually you'll hit a tipping point where we'd have hyperinflation. QE needs to be phased out.

Government's a beast that needs to be starved anyway - may be the only way to control it.

You mentioned that you can borrow money at 1.5%. I hope I'm not being too forward, but how are you using your credit line? To purchase hard assets? To fund projects like Oxide?

Also, I assume the seasonal cashflow issue you mentioned some time ago is no longer an issue?

Do you track a ROI per employee metric?

Okay, so you starve government through everyone withholding/cheating on their taxes.... so who do you propose builds all the necessary infrastructure; funds all the dirty decisions nobody else wants to make; pays for the huge war machine and its ongoing expense accounts?

Private Enterprise?

Sure, and turn the US into one huge 'user pays' society where everything costs... including the roads you travel to work on... and every bullet/missile fired in anger costs the public thrice as much because you've turned from a non-profit organisation to profit motivated corporations who will want to see your last red cent.

Good one!  And Apple is your saviour.

No question they have leverage over us when it comes to starving the government of cash, starkers.  When faced with shortfalls, they always fire pothole fillers, cops & DMV clerks but continue funding for research on the sex habits of the Malaysian black-spotted tree frog and Cowboy Poetry festivals.  But we can't let them think they can just have all they want.

I'm not suggesting that government always spends taxpayer money wisely, far from it. From my own recollection of the Australian government, the waste has sometimes been enormous and almost criminal... like the time it spent 6 mil on a painting to hang in parliament house.

However, governments do things where nobody else can be bothered or wants to get their hands dirty, and that's where paying you dues and not claiming bogus deductions on your tax return is the right thing to do. Government is always going to fund nut-jobs and their wacky study ideas because there'll always be arsewipe politicians with a sympathetic ear, meaning that vital areas will come up short of funding when the majority of taxpayers follow your lead and start claiming on every restaurant meal; gallon of juice; doctors bill; pharmacy bill; etc, etc.

At the end of the day, however, what you and a few million other taxpayers don't pay through various bogus claims, etc, is but a piss in the ocean compared to what Apple and other corporations are avoiding in taxes.... and this is where you begin the fight to bring your own tax rate down, by lobbying government - via a Taxpayers Association -  to amend the tax laws and force the corporations into compliance.  And when they pay their fair share, you pay less and without having to lodge bogus claims.

Ah....punctuation....

There was me getting curious about the sex habits of the Cowboy Poetry festivals ....

The one I like to bitch about is that the US sends foreign aid to China!

We stupidly borrow money from them and then turn around and give it back as foreign aid.

They must be laughing their asses off all the way to the bank.

Yup, ALL the way to the bank.  Makes as much sense as sending aid to North Korea, just so they can build crap to blow the shit out of South Korea... and aid to Iran, so it can continue its nuclear programme and blow the shit out of Israel.

For mine, there'd be no foreign aid programmes anywhere... NONE!  All I would have is a natural disaster fund to help those stricken by events out of their control... other than that they can all eff off.  Not very charitable, I know, but our government sends far more money in overseas aid than it spends on helping out our own homeless persons and the 1000's of people living below the poverty line.... and charity begins at home.

Trust you!

You'll find this interesting, if you haven't seen it already.