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Most of Apple's $82 billion cash stockpile is 'trapped' overseas
Apple may have enough cash on hand to make Scrooge McDuck's money vault look like a kiddie pool by comparison, but according to SeekingAlpha, most of that cash is effectively trapped overseas. US$54 billion of Apple's overall $82 billion in cash is in offshore accounts, and Apple cannot repatriate that money to the States unless it wants to pay a huge 35 percent corporate tax on it. If Apple attempted to bring that money into the States, right off the bat through the magic of taxes that $54 billion would transform into $35.1 billion, with the other $18.9 billion disappearing down the federal money hole. With that much cash at stake, it's no wonder that Apple hasn't been in any hurry to repatriate its huge foreign cash reserves. SeekingAlpha's analysis of Apple's 10Ks shows that Apple's foreign cash and investments are growing far faster than those in the US, and with sales in China continuing to ramp up year after year, that pace is only going to increase. Apple and other companies have lobbied for a repatriation tax holiday to temporarily lower the tax rate from 35 percent to something more palatable to corporations, in the neighborhood of 5 to 9 percent. That proposal has met with strong resistance from the current US administration, however, which has said that any corporate tax holiday must come as part of an overhaul of the entire corporate tax structure, something that's unlikely to happen in the near future. Meanwhile, as Apple's foreign cash hoard grows, the money is effectively useless to Apple and its shareholders. They could build a stack of dollar bills 3400 miles tall, but can't they can't do much else with it for now.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy wants to create music with a tax on ISPs
Nicolas Sarkozy is worried about the future of his country's music industry, and he's turning to French ISPs for help. Speaking alongside other G8 and G20 delegates at the Forum d'Avignon this weekend, Sarko affirmed his commitment to setting up a "national music center" within France, in the hopes of spurring artistic creativity amid a rather dour industrial climate. Modeled on France's National Cinema Center, the system was first proposed back in September by Minister of Culture Frédéric Mitterrand, and, if launched, would be funded by a tax on ISPs. According to Sarkozy, taxing service providers in the name of protecting French art is only fair game. "Globalization [has allowed] the giants of the Internet to make a lot of money on the French market," Sarkozy explained, echoing familiar Gallic attitudes toward online protectionism. "Good for them, but they do not pay a penny in tax to France." He went on to praise his country's Hadopi copyright law for reducing internet piracy by 35 percent, but stressed that the government must do more to protect what could be a dying French commodity: "The day when there is no more music, the day when there is no longer a cinema, the day when there are no writers, what will your generation search for on the internet?" Other things, probably.
But you can't get the Romania out of Nokia
Local news outlets are reporting that Nokia is in trouble with the Romanian government over unpaid debts amounting to $10 million. The outstanding sum supposedly relates to customs bills racked up by trucks removing Nokia's equipment from its abandoned Cluj factory. A Nokia spokesperson just confirmed to us that the company is experiencing some kind of problem in that country, but is "engaging with the local authority to ensure it will be resolved satisfactorily."
Ireland planning to double its game industry jobs
Ireland is planning to double its game industry employment numbers by 2014, targeting 4,500 jobs from the current estimate of 2,000. The country, which has been dealing with a financial crisis, and acting as a corporate tax haven as the same time, is looking to back sustained growth in digital creative industries. Develop lays out the six initiatives the country has to grow in the sector. "As a pioneering sector within the wider digital economy, the games sector is dynamic, innovative and exciting," said Richard Bruton, the minister for jobs, enterprise and innovation. "What is apparent is that Ireland already has a number of strengths on which we can build success for the future and that will differentiate its offering internationally." Ireland is already off to a good start, with the recent opening of BioWare Ireland (pictured), a 200-employee customer service center expected to double in size.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: solar train tunnels, refillable battery goop, and the world's first 3D-printed bikini
Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green. This week green transportation left fossil fuels in the dust as Inhabitat reported that a record-breaking electric VW Bug rocketed from 0-60 in 1.6 seconds and Team Steam unveiled a space age vehicle that is vying for the title of "fastest steam car on earth." We also spotted the world's first natural gas-powered supercar, while a team of Cambridge students unveiled a sleek solar racer that will attempt to travel 1,800 miles in the World Solar Challenge. Oil fuels also lost more luster as GM's CEO called for a $1 gas tax increase in the US, while MIT unveiled a new type of liquid flow battery that could refuel electric vehicles in a snap. As the summer sun hits its stride groundbreaking solar power projects are lighting up left and right - this week Google unveiled a new solar patent that could make solar energy cheaper than coal, while QSolar rolled out an array of rainbow-hued Kristal panels that can replace windows and walls. Photovoltaic gadgets also had their moment in the sun as Pixel Qi pulled back the curtain on a cheap, efficient solar-powered tablet and a wave and sun-powered seafaring robot received $22 million in funding. Speaking of solar power, this week we applauded the opening of a two-mile-long photovoltaic train tunnel that will provide power to the Paris-Amsterdam high-speed rail line. We were also wowed by Steve Jobs' vision for Apple's new spaceship-shaped clean energy campus, and our Bright Ideas Lighting Design Competition is really heating up, so be sure to vote for your favorite green lamp before the contest ends next week. Finally, we shared 6 great green Father's Day gifts for tech-savvy dads, and as summer gets set to begin we brought you exclusive photos of the recently opened section 2 of New York's High Line park, a beautiful suspended swimmer's oasis in Denmark, and the world's first 3D-printed bikini.
US Uncut group to target Apple with protests on June 4
If you see a group of people dancing in front of your local Apple store next weekend, don't be alarmed. Steve Jobs didn't make a surprise visit to the store and, no, Apple isn't launching another product. They are just protesters from the US Uncut group. The grassroots movement is upset with corporate tax loopholes and has deciced to target the Cupertino company on June 4. They accuse Apple and other corporations like Pfizer of hiding US income as foreign income to avoid paying taxes. The group is calling on its members to protest with a flash mob-style dance-in outside Apple retail stores around the US. Read on for a video to find out why this group is so upset with Steve Jobs and company.
Canadian copyright group pushes for levy on memory cards
As even non-Canadians may recall, there was a big issue in the country a few years back over a so-called "iPod tax" (something that cropped up again in the recent election) and, while it still hasn't come to pass, the Canadian Private Copying Collective is now pushing for a music tax of another sort. While there's no iPods in danger of being taxed this time, the CPCC is asking for a new levy to be placed on memory cards (presumably all types, although that hasn't been specified). That levy would vary depending on the capacity of the card, with those less than 1GB facing a $0.50 tax, while cards between 1GB and 8GB would have an additional dollar tacked on, and those over 8GB would cost a full $3 more. Needless to say, that would be a fairly sizable percentage of the price in most cases given the way memory card prices are dropping -- and it would cast a fairly broad brush, as those memory cards obviously aren't just used for music. Of course, it is also still just a proposal but, as the Excess Copyright blog notes, the peculiarities of the Canadian Copyright Board may well give the CPCC a leg up in this case. Head on past the break for its official announcement.
UK government may close online shopping tax loophole
The gaming significance of the above headline may not seem apparent, but bear with us. This May, the UK government will consider "the continued marketing and use of highly aggressive and artificial tax avoidance schemes." As noted by VG247, businesses located in a certain part of Jersey (the UK one, not the one famous for GTL) are not required to include value added tax (VAT) in their prices. As such, many game sellers -- GAME, Amazon, Play, etc. -- base their businesses there, allowing them to sell games at lower prices than competitors (though only on items under £18). MCV reports that the consultation planned for May will likely see current countermeasures extended. Said countermeasures allow the government to "enable the listing of specific tax avoidance schemes for direct taxes so that the subsequent use of such schemes will carry consequences for the user." Within four years, the measures could earn the UK government as much as £4 billion. Of course, they would also have the added side effect of raising prices on certain games.
North Carolina to provide tax breaks for game companies
North Carolina is going to provide some epic tax breaks to video game developers. According to the ESA, a bill signed by Governor Beverly Perdue will provide a 15 percent tax credit on "wages and compensation for employees involved in digital media production, or the creation of a platform or engine to run such media." Of course, the big winner here is North Carolina-based Epic Games, which swims in a lake of Unreal Engine money and develops games in its spare time. However, other benefactors of the tax breaks include Electronic Arts, Ubisoft and another dozen or so developers in the state. The incentives take effect January 1, 2011. Publishers, developers and governments use tax breaks like Ezio wields the hidden blade. It's a weapon, either for financial defense (which seems to be the case in North Carolina) or aggression. With Canada's relentless siren call of tax incentives, if other countries and states don't step up their game, The Great White North will continue its Tim Hortons-fueled march to eventually developing most of the world's video games.
TIGA and ELSPA form Steering Committee for UK tax relief
Looks like the UK's video game industry organizations aren't going to take the recent removal of their hard-fought game development tax relief plan from the nation's Emergency Budget lying down. Earlier today, TIGA and the ELSPA announced their partnership on a "Steering Committee" to investigate why the tax plan was put on ice. The duo plans to review the original submission to make a more compelling argument for gaming industry tax breaks. Hopefully the group will find an effective solution for getting its plan approved. You know, a solution better than "let's throw our full support behind candidates in the upcoming election who promise to endorse our tax plan, only to have them forget about us mere moments after taking office." The press release is posted after the break. [Image credit: Bashed]
UK game retailers facing pricing challenge due to VAT increase
Last week, the UK Emergency Budget resulted in a proposed increase in the country's VAT (similar to a sales tax). When it goes into effect in January, the tax will increase by 2.5 percentage points. Game retailers are mulling over the possibility of absorbing the added the cost, instead of passing it to the consumer. According to MCV's report, "senior retail figures" are reluctant to increase the price of games above the now-standard £39.99 ceiling. Afraid that the increased VAT will lower sales, retailers must consider lowering their profit margins, by paying for the increased tax. Should that prove to be unsavory though, UK gamers can expect their games -- as the price of many other retail goods -- to increase in the new year.
The Virtual Whirl: Death and taxes
"Nothing is certain but death and taxes"; a rather sardonic and bleak proverb, quoted and paraphrased by a number of famous figures over the years. The earliest on record was Daniel Defoe, in The Political History of the Devil in 1726. Well, this week the death part doesn't concern us so much as the taxes. Many Americans have spent this month scrambling to get their taxes filed, and for many of the rest of us our own turn comes due in just a couple of months. With that in mind, I thought I'd talk about the taxation status of virtual assets.
Officers' Quarters: Tax time
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook, available this spring from No Starch Press. In the United States, federal and state taxes are due in just a few days -- April 15 is the deadline. If you haven't figured out your taxes by now, you're probably in a bit of a panic. Though we often resent paying, taxes are the price of living in an organized society. They pay for defense, schools, roads, social programs and a host of other benefits. Some we can all agree on; some are a matter of fierce debate. In a guild, taxes are often a controversial issue. Some guilds who use point-based systems like DKP will tax members' point totals to prevent point hoarding. This week, one reader is wondering about a different kind of tax. Hi Scott, I am a member of a casual raiding guild. Recently some of the officers have been kicking around the idea of a "raid tax" -- a set value of mats used in a week's worth of 25-man raiding that can be paid by members either in gold or through supplying the mats themselves. It's funny because the "tax" for a given week sounds exorbitant to me (close to 1,000 gold when they figure in the price of enchanting mats and gems for loot).
Is Canada's iPod tax back? And if so, will BJ Snowden get her cut?
We know, BJ Snowden is an American artist -- but since her song "In Canada" is probably on every iPod and computer up north, we have to wonder whether a proposed amendment to the Canadian Copyright act will help her finally get what's coming to her. The brainchild of the New Democratic Party's Charlie Angus, the bill would extend 1997's Private Copying Levy "to the next generation of devices that consumers are using for copying sound recordings for personal use." Proponents of the plan says that it ensures that artists get paid for their work -- essentially, the government wants you to pay upfront for the music you're likely to steal anyways by taxing your next digital audio player purchase. Of course, much about the plan doesn't make sense (it doesn't address digital video, for instance, or the computers that people use to download and store their music in the first place) but we guess we'll let the Canadian government hash that one out. This is obviously not a new idea, and it is one the courts have rejected already, but who knows? Maybe this time it will "take." Lets hope not, eh? Update: No surprise, but the levy is already being shouted down by Industry Minister Tony Clement calling it "totally nonsensical" and "180 degrees in the wrong direction" with regard to the government's strategy to embrace the internet, not stifle it.
TIGA delivers petition for tax relief to UK government
[Image credit: Bashed] UK video game industry trade association TIGA delivered a petition today to 10 Downing Street (that's where Her Majesty ... oh, it's just the British Prime Minister's residence), seeking the introduction of Games Tax Relief. The petition was signed by 55 "senior industry figures," which gives the proposition a bit more weight than the standard internet plea. The argument set forth by Richard Wilson, CEO of TIGA, is that "if it is right to provide tax relief for the UK film industry then it is also right to provide tax relief for the UK video games sector." TIGA's push on the UK government is being framed as a matter of survival for the British games industry. The organization previously stated that 1,700 jobs will be lost without tax breaks and that the current government funding structure for the games industry is "incoherent." If TIGA doesn't receive assistance soon, the group can always accept the outstretched hand of assistance from the ominous-sounding "Shadow Cabinet."
Ireland trying to court Realtime Worlds, other Scottish devs with tax holiday
In an attempt to kick-start its own video game industry, Ireland has begun to target a number of high-profile Scottish game development studios, attempting to woo them over to the Emerald Isle by offering a five-year tax holiday. Colin Macdonald, manager of Dundee-based APB developer Realtime Worlds, responded by saying "if the package on offer in Ireland was attractive we'd have to give it serious consideration." Other Scottish developers who could be influenced by the tax holiday include Rockstar North, Denki, Ruffian Games and Dynamo Games. Macdonald went on to say that Scotland's going to need to do more to preserve its burgeoning gaming industry in light of attractive offers from countries such as Ireland and Canada, who Realtime "lost some of [its] key staff to" in the past few years. We can't help but wonder if this might have had less to do with the strength of Canada's gaming industry, and more to do with the deliciousness of their bacon. [Via Gamasutra]
EVE Online: The taxman cometh
When EVE Online developer CCP Soundwave isn't entertaining fans of internet spaceships with his wit during the EVE Alliance Tournament, he's apparently finding new ways to ... impose taxes on players? His dev blog today explains that CCP Games will tax the earnings of players in NPC corps and their reasons for introducing this taxes. This won't apply to those in EVE's player corporations or those enlisted with a militia for factional warfare. "Service guarantees citizenship and all that, so keep on trucking," he writes. (Note: For those less familiar with EVE Online, this deals entirely with in-game currency of course, InterStellar Kredits or ISK. No real world taxation is involved.)After all these years, why impose taxes on players in NPC corps? CCP Soundwave explains it all in "I Bring Gifts! (By Gifts I Mean Taxes, Sorry)". NPC corps have a few advantages over player corps in that they cannot have wars declared against them by player corporations; immunity to wardecs is perhaps a key reason some players don't move on to player corps. In addition, members of NPC corporations don't have taxes subtracted from their NPC bounties and mission rewards, which most player corporations impose.
Sweden extending taxation into the virtual
Sweden is taking aim at online tax evasion and the estimated five billion Swedish krona (SEK) in annual undeclared income by the country's citizens. (This equates to roughly USD 645 million.) While much of this is revenue from "online marketplaces, porn, and astrology sites", undeclared income from games and virtual worlds are included in that figure. In fact, the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) looked at the sales of avatars and characters in 'computer games' over a 14 month period, with a collective advertised sum of 662 million SEK (USD 85 million). No income was declared on any of these transactions so it's a safe bet they'll be scrutinizing these sales moving forward. Although the specific virtual worlds and games aren't named, GameCulture adds that the virtual property Skatteverket is looking at exchanged hands between 7000 gamers and residents. Also interesting is what GamePolitics turned up on the situation -- "even U.S. citizens could be subject to Swedish taxation on such virtual transactions, according to the Economics of Virtual Worlds blog."
GDC09: How to avoid new legal pitfalls in virtual world design and policy
At last week's Game Developers Conference 2009, we got the chance to sit in on Mark Methenitis' talk on How to avoid new legal pitfalls in virtual world design and policy. You may have noticed the sheer quantity of legal cases, rulings and issues surrounding virtual environments and MMOGs that have direct impacts on users and players lately. We found the talk to be an engaging and interesting one, which certainly went a long way towards clarifying some of the past, present and future problems and we've got a tasty summary of the highlights for you.
ESA prez asks Texas to extend tax incentives for game developers
In an op-ed piece fort the Austin American-Stateman, Entertainment Software Association president Michael Gallagher asks the Texas legislature to extend the state's economic incentive programs for the game industry -- such incentives were signed into law in 2007 by Governor Rick Perry. The bills that would extend the incentives are currently under consideration. Gallagher states that the game industry accounts for more than one third of the $345 million invested in the state by the entertainment industry in 2007. He says further that video games are an extension of Texas' "rich cultural past" as represented by SXSW, which begins its 2009 show this week. Gallagher points out the benefits that games have brought, such as dexterity improvement for senior citizens, job training and teaching tools. He neglects, strangely, to mention that they are also awesome.As Gallagher notes, several states are considering similar measures or extending the ones already in place and concludes, "While economic incentives for the video game industry are a sound investment for Texas' cultural legacy, they are an even better investment for the people of Texas." Let's hope the bills pass, if only to finally find out what Warren Spector has been up to.