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Precisely. Cases like this demonstrate exactly why democracy is meaningless when paired with an unrestrained capitalist system. Money completely triumphs votes in every policy issue. Income taxes are significantly higher than capital gains tax, and tax evasion becomes exponentially easier as a function of capital.

Such is life. It appears the mean human society has always tended towards oligarchy. If you can't beatem, joinem?

Where can I find this "unrestrained capitalist system" you speak of? I'd love to live there.

as usual, the smaller the crime the larger the risk

Apple is not based in Ireland. Apples European business is based in Ireland.

The idea that the US government is owed taxes for transactions that happen in other countries is kind of absurd.

What if the British declared that you owe them income taxes (after all, america was a british colony, they could consider us subjects)?

You'd see that as absurd, yet Britian has more claim on US citizen income taxes than the US has on a chinese product being sold in europe.