‘Armageddon’ Update: Apple to Repatriate Billions, Hire Thousands and Bonus Workers
Tech giant will bring $250 billion home and pay $38 billion in taxes on it, as well as spread the wealth to workers.
“This tax bill is Armageddon,” warned Nancy Pelosi before its passage. “It is the end of the world.” After the bill passed and hundreds of businesses began immediately raising pay for workers, Pelosi dismissed these income gains as “pathetic,” “insignificant” and “crumbs.”
Well, here’s the latest in a string of good news of “crumbs” from the apocalypse: “Apple, already the largest US taxpayer, anticipates repatriation tax payments of approximately $38 billion as required by recent changes to the tax law. A payment of that size would likely be the largest of its kind ever made,” the company said in a press release. CNBC notes that Apple is “bringing back home nearly all of its $250 billion in foreign cash.” The tech giant also plans to invest $30 billion in the U.S. over the next five years, including creating 20,000 jobs to add to its 84,000 American jobs. Additionally, employees will receive stock-based bonuses worth $2,500 each.
“Crumbs!” Pelosi insists.
“I promised that my policies would allow companies like Apple to bring massive amounts of money back to the United States,” President Donald Trump tweeted. “Great to see Apple follow through as a result of TAX CUTS.”
What’s even more interesting is what Ed Morrissey observes: “Not only [does Apple] have a reputation for wokeness and hipness, they’ve also been more or less hostile to the Trump administration since before it arrived. Remember when CEO Tim Cook sent an emergency message to his employees after Donald Trump won the election? That came just a few months after Apple pulled its donation to the Republican convention over Trump’s remarks on a range of topics. Cook also felt compelled to message his employees over Trump’s remarks about the riot in Charlottesville. It’s been clear that Cook hasn’t much use for Trump, and especially that he wants to be seen as not having much use for Trump. However, business is business, after all … which was precisely the point that Republicans made in predicting these outcomes from the tax reform package.”
To recap, under Democrat policy, Apple would have left all that money overseas, never to be brought back, not hired thousands and offered no bonuses. Under Republican policy, Apple is going to pay $38 billion in taxes instead of $0, as well as hire 20,000 and pay out $2,500 bonuses. Bad, bad Republicans!
- Tags:
- taxes
- tax reform
- Apple
- economy