Apple executives were called in to testify before members of Congress yesterday. They were accused of “shifting” profits abroad to avoid paying taxes.

The fact of the matter, though, as Heritage Foundation tax expert Curtis Dubay told Fox Business yesterday, is that the money hasn’t been shifted at all because it wasn’t earned in the U.S. “I can’t go down to the Apple store here in Washington, buy an iPad, and have Apple then ‘shift’ that income abroad,” he said.

The U.S. corporate tax rate is the highest rate in the world. As long as it remains so exorbitant, successful businesses like Apple are going to keep their foreign income abroad.

Heritage’s Amy Payne has more:

The reason the Senate feigned indignation over an issue that had nothing to do with the U.S. is that some Members want Apple to pay more U.S. tax on all that foreign cash. They want Apple to bring all of that profit back into the U.S. and pay the U.S. corporate tax rate—the world’s highest—on it. But as long as we keep the U.S. rate the highest in the world, Apple and other multinational businesses are going to keep their foreign income abroad.

Apple has not done anything illegal by minimizing its tax liability. Because of America’s extremely high corporate tax rate, many companies don’t return to the U.S. what money they earn abroad. While other countries have been making efforts to cut their corporate tax rates, the U.S. has been making it more and more difficult for U.S. businesses.

Do you think Apple should pay more in taxes? Or should we fix the tax code to stop punishing successful firms?

Opposition to the Internet sales tax is not limited to conservatives. Watch the video above to hear the words of the Democratic lawmakers who oppose this tax.

The Heritage Foundation’s T. Elliot Gaiser outlines 10 reasons these Democrats oppose the Internet sales tax.  Continue Reading »

As they debate how to resolve the federal deficit, lawmakers need to avoid any additional tax increases, Heritage Foundation scholar Curtis Dubay argues.

“There will be plenty of revenue coming into Washington over the next 10 years,” Dubay explains. “Additional tax hikes would not address the problem of excessive spending but instead give more money to Congress and President Obama to spend.”

And tax increases would slow economic growth and limit opportunity: Continue Reading »

News reports often make dubious claims about trade and international commerce.

Here’s one example from the Associated Press: “A narrower trade gap boosts growth because it means U.S. companies are earning more from overseas sales while U.S. consumers and businesses are spending less on foreign products.”

This widely reported explanation is easy to disprove. “In recent years, our economy has performed better when the trade gap increases than when it narrows,” Heritage Foundation expert Bryan Riley explains.

In fact, he continues: Continue Reading »

Though it may seem counterintuitive, imports are vital to U.S. manufacturing, explains Heritage Foundation economist Terry Miller.

Citing a new report by the St.Louis Federal Reserve Miller says:

Intermediate goods imports and capital goods imports are the lifeblood of U.S. manufacturing. Without them, manufacturing output is impossible. In fact, goods imports account for a far greater share of U.S. manufacturing value added than do exports.

Statists often favor subsidizing exports as a way to bolster the economy, but Miller says this kind of intervention can dangerous. “Export promotion is misguided at best,” he says, “and seriously harmful if policies include restrictions on imports or manipulation of currency to cheapen the value of the dollar.” Continue Reading »

Twenty-somethings in America–the “millennial” generation–by and large can be categorized as politically active, socially left-leaning, and entrepreneurial. Alarmingly for conservatives, they share a trust in the government’s ability to solve our nation’s problems. According to the Pew Research Center, they are “the only age group in which a majority said the government should do more to fix problems.”

Why do young people trust the government to fix problems? In part because of the unhealthy nexus between big government and big business, The Heritage Foundation’s Matt Grinney explains: Continue Reading »

Last week, The Heritage Foundation released America’s Opportunity for All, our newest, boldest policy blueprint packed with principled, conservative ideas that will get America back on the right course.

“The problem with the 2012 elections,” Heritage President Ed Feulner and Heritage President-Elect Jim DeMint explain, “was not that conservative ideas were voted down. The problem was that we did not do a good enough job of presenting our ideas to the American people.”

America’s Opportunity aims to reverse that. Continue Reading »

Liberals like to think they have a monopoly on charity because they support government programs like overseas aid.

But Daniel Hannan, a member of the European Parliament and one of Great Britain’s rising conservative political stars, explains that liberals focus on the “elevation of motive over outcome.” That can lead to feel-good programs that fail in real life.

In fact, as Heritage Foundation expert James Roberts explains, government antipoverty programs don’t work and can even be counterproductive. Economic freedom is a proven alternative that can lift impoverished nations from poverty. Continue Reading »

Economic freedom continues to recede in the United States, according to The Heritage Foundation’s 2013 Index of Economic Freedom. This was the fourth straight year of decline for the 10th-ranked United States, reflecting increased government regulation and spending.

The Index, produced in collaboration with The Wall Street Journal, reports that Hong Kong is again the world’s freest economy. And the United States, which ranks only as a “mostly free” economy, lags behind countries like Canada and Australia.

What’s behind the fall? Heritage economist Terry Miller explains: Continue Reading »

The Heritage Foundation’s George Kryvenka realized growing up that communism and oppression have real and dire consequences.  As a child in Belarus, a former Soviet republic, propaganda from the Soviet and then the Belarusian government led him to believe the United States was the enemy. But his own country’s harsh government and his knowledge of English led him to reconsider. Today he proudly lives in Maryland and works as Heritage’s facilities manager.

Continue Reading »