On Tue, 05 Jan 2016 08:34:23 +0000, Mike Lander wrote:

And they lie about what the hardware costs them.

Got any evidence for your scurrilous allegation?

There is no other was for Apple to end with quite literally hundreds of
billions of bucks in Ireland.

Ohfertheloveofgawd

Not even possible when they can claim anything they like about their
main costs.

So how do YOU know what their costs are? Are you their auditor?

Don't need to be when we know their stuff is made in China.

OK, let's go through this slowly...

Nice and simple pared-down version:
A company makes something for a global brand.
That global brand sells it to regional distributors.
Those regional distributors sell it directly to customers through their
own shops and mail-order.

Is there anything, anywhere in the world, apart from the basic laws of
supply and demand, which governs what price is charged at any of those
steps? No.

If the regional distributor is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the global
company, then the price at that step can be higher - and more profit will
be made by the parent - or lower - and more profit can be made by the
subsidiary. Is that illegal? No.

Profit is made by the regional distributor, it is taxed in that
distributor's home country.
Profit is made by the global brand, it is taxed in that brand's home
country.

So - where, in any of that, do "lies" and illegality come in?