Apple Will Double Its Lobbying Efforts This Year To Simplify U.S. Tax Code

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"Low-fi on-hold music at Apple? Not on my iWatch!"

By Silicon Valley standards, Apple doesn’t lobby much in Washington. Last year, they spent a little under $2 million on lobbying, a drop in the bucket to Google’s $18 million spent.

But scrutiny of Apple in Washington is starting to heat up, especially the company’s accounting methods. That’s why Apple is looking to double its lobbying spending this year to close to $4 million.

According to Reuters, as part of Apple’s plan to get the U.S. tax code overhauled — vastly simplifying it by eliminating corporate tax expenditures, lowering overall tax rates, and making it simpler and cheaper to repatriate money held overseas — Apple is looking to spnd almost $4 million in Washington this year, over $2 million more than a year ago.

That’s a big jump, not just in a year, but compared to what it spent a decade ago, which was little more than half a million dollars. Apple is apparently highly selective about what campaigns it lobbies for, its most recent effort being — surprise! — unsuccessful legislation that would have allowed multinationals to bring overseas profits back home without paying a 35 percent corporate income tax. Guess what that $4 million this year is likely to be spent on?

Source: Reuters

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