Apple reports fourth quarter results

This stuck out like a sore thumb to me:

Q4 2024: Income before provision for income taxes $29.610 billion, Provision for income taxes $14.874 billion

Q4 2025: Income before provision for income taxes $32.804 billion, Provision for income taxes $5.338 billion

[EDIT:] The 2024 taxes were actually an aberration.

"the one-time charge recognized during the fourth quarter of 2024 related to the impact of the reversal of the European General Court’s State Aid decision" https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2024/10/apple-reports-fourth-...

Corporate income tax is one of those ideas that are immensely popular politically ("someone who is not me will pay billions to benefit me? yay!") but not supported by economic theory or real economic outcomes. Rent control / other price controls is another one ("No more rent increases for me, yay!").

Personal income taxes are a better choice according to [0] and that makes sense if you think about it. Let companies go wild creating wealth; eventually the company matures, growth slows, and instead of reinvesting, the money mostly gets paid out to employees and owners as salaries, dividends, or stock buybacks. That's the point where it's most efficient to tax it.

[0] https://www.economicsobservatory.com/which-taxes-are-best-an...

[1] https://taxfoundation.org/taxedu/primers/primer-not-all-taxe...

Correct. Corporate income tax is really a tax on shareholders (alternative to paying tax is paying shareholders a dividend). The corporate tax rate hits all owners regardless of income/wealth. That includes pension funds, 401ks, small investors, etc. Proponents of progressive taxes should be against corporate tax and in favor of income tax, property tax, etc.