taxes

US Uncut, an organization that fights companies that try to avoid taxes, is planning to target Apple retail stores on June 4, protesting the company's support of the Win America Campaign.

The group seeks to have Apple leave the WAC, which it claims is lobbying Congress for what would end up being a $4 billion tax cut for the company, as well as to cease other lobbying activities relating to "tax loopholes."

"Apple plays huge games with their taxes. By disguising profits in the U.S. as foreign earnings in low-tax countries, Apple dodges billions of … Read more

The U.S. wind industry is growing again after taking a big step backward last year.

Yet turbine makers and wind farm developers are finding few reasons to celebrate as the clean energy source struggles to secure long-term government support while facing stiff competition from cheap natural gas.

Once the world's top wind market, the United States ceded that mantle to China last year as a weak economy halted its growth and cut new installations to half of the 10,000 megawatts of capacity built in 2009.

Since then, business has picked up, but not for the reasons the industry would like. Energy demand is still tepid due to a gurgling economic recovery, and the low cost of natural gas is keeping power prices low.

Pricing in long-term power sales contracts signed by wind developers has fallen 30 percent in the last two years and will fall further this year, according to IHS Emerging Energy Research.

Currently, the market is being shepherded by developers who are scrambling to put turbines in the ground ahead of a 2013 expiration of lucrative federal tax credits for wind. Beyond that date, the industry's fortunes are hazy. … Read more

After earlier predicting a profitable fiscal year, Sony now expects to lose a total of 260 billion yen ($3.2 billion) for the year, a change due in huge part to the effects of the Japanese earthquake.

In a statement (PDF) released today, the electronics giant revised its figures for its fiscal year ended March 31 from those originally offered in February. The forecast of a $3.2 billion loss is quite different than its earlier projection of a profit of 70 billion yen ($857 million) for the year.

Sony also slightly lowered its revenue forecast to 7.18 trillion … Read more

Some Americans would pay less for digital purchases from iTunes, Amazon.com, and other online stores in the future, if a bill that two U.S. senators introduced today becomes law.

The Digital Goods and Services Tax Fairness Act of 2011, written by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and John Thune (R-S.D.), hopes to curb taxes that single out digital goods and services.

The new bill prohibits state and local governments from taxing products that do not apply to similar tangible items, preventing unnecessary taxes on consumers for using digital products. (See CNET's earlier report on a similar "iTaxes" bill introduced last year in the House of Representatives.) … Read more

Amazon.com is threatening to cut ties with affiliates in any states that decide to collect sales tax, CEO Jeff Bezos said yesterday.

"We will continue to drop states who pass those affiliate laws, from the affiliate program," Bezos said at the ShopSmart Shopping Summit in New York, according to Reuters.

The company recently cut ties with affiliates in Illinois and has also done so in Colorado, North Carolina, and Rhode Island. Amazon is threatening to do likewise in California.

As on online company, Amazon itself isn't required to collect taxes in states where the company is … Read more

With the deadline to pay our taxes ticking away, many of us wonder just how and where Uncle Sam spends our hard-earned dough. The winner of a recent Google contest reveals the answer.

In February, Google launched a contest designed to shed some light into the U.S. government's often perplexing spending habits. Dubbed the Data Viz challenge, the contest asked developers to create online applications that could show us visually where our income tax dollars are spent.

After receiving more than 40 entries, the Google jury has crowned its $5,000 Grand Prize winner. Created by developer Anil … Read more

We may be basking in the waning sunlight of tax-free Internet shopping.

A senator is preparing to introduce legislation that would rewrite the ground rules for Internet and mail order sales by eliminating the ability of Americans to shop at Web sites like Amazon.com and Overstock.com without paying state sales taxes.

"Why should out-of-state companies that sell their products online have an unfair advantage over Main Street bricks-and-mortar businesses?" Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said in a speech in Collinsville, Ill., in February.

Durbin, the second most senior Senate Democrat, will introduce the bill after the Easter … Read more

Correction at 10:04 a.m. PT on April 15: This story initially mischaracterized the vote that occurred Tuesday. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to pass the payroll tax legislation on first reading, but a second reading and vote is required. That is scheduled for April 19. The story's headline and text have been rewritten to reflect that reality.

SAN FRANCISCO--As expected, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors today moved closer to approving a payroll tax cap for some businesses willing to move to the city's Mid-Market neighborhood.

The legislation and subsequent amendments passed on first … Read more

Links from Tuesday's episode of Loaded:

Amazon.com offers a cheaper. ad-supported Kindle

Google launches a trivia page called A Google a Day

A U.S. Court of Appeals rules that the Winklevoss twins who sued Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg

Google plans to invest $168 million in a solar power plant in the Mojave Desert

New legislation may propose a sales tax on all online transactions

Sony introduces two new OLED monitors