MOSAIC may not be a household name, but they are the world’s largest phosphate mining company. They provide the raw materials that go into the fertilizer that grows the fruit and vegetable products that you consume every day. Last week, they announced plans to lay off over 200 workers from their plant in rural Polk County, FL.

You read the headline that a company resorted to layoffs and your logical response is “it’s the economy, stupid.” Good answer, but wrong. It isn’t the economy. It isn’t a lack of demand or resources and it isn’t competition, domestic or foreign.

MOSAIC was forced to idle their Fort Meade plant and lay off workers because of a line on a map. There is a road, aptly if not creatively named County Line Road, separating Polk County from Hardee County. MOSAIC has, over the course of decades, mined all the phosphate from their land on the north side of the road, but they own more than 10,000 phosphate rich acres on the south side of the road.

Despite their legal ownership of the land in Hardee County, appropriate zoning, and approvals from the US Army Corps of Engineers, MOSAIC’s enormous drag-lines sit idle on the north side of the road because of a restraining order (they’re not just for crazy ex-boyfriends anymore) issued by a judge in Jacksonville. Not just one, not two, but three distinct environmental groups have sued to stop the company from mining any of their land in Hardee County.

Oddly enough, MOSAIC isn’t even a party to the lawsuit, leaving the defense of their very business in the hands of… the Federal Government. The three groups – the Sierra Club Inc, People for Protecting Peace River, and ManaSota-88 – filed suit against the US Army Corps of Engineers. The allegation is that the expansion of the mine would essentially destroy nature and turn the county into an environmental wasteland fit only for cockroaches and high school dropouts (I’m paraphrasing).

Regardless of the impact it will have on the next generation, these people don’t want industry intruding on their little slice of retirement paradise. The current economy is forcing more than enough layoffs as it is; it doesn’t need any help from a group of people who earned themselves a nice living somewhere else in industry have since retired and moved to Florida.

There was much hullabaloo this week over Apple’s decision to ban all pornographic applications from their app store. Porn-addicts around the nation huddled in Internet chat rooms and decried Apple for abridging their first amendment rights. Over and over again, in all form of media, the cry went up: “1st Amendment, 1st Amendment”.

So, as a public service, I’d like to provide here the unabridged text of the first amendment:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

It doesn’t take a legal expert to realize that it is IMPOSSIBLE for Apple to violate the 1st Amendment rights of pornographers, or anyone else for that matter. Apple is not Congress. The 1st Amendment protects us, the people, from Congress. That’s it. Anything else is revisionist at best. Forget what you’ve hear on TV or read online.

The 1st Amendment is a proper and necessary safeguard against government censorship. But that’s it. Apple can choose to sell or not sell whatever they want. No one is forced to buy an iPhone; porn on demand is not a right. This whole debate is misplaced.

We live in a free market economy (mostly, sort of). If you don’t like the way Apple does business, buy an Android. That’s the way it works. Apple is a corporation. All slogans aside, all corporations exist for the sole purpose of maximizing shareholder wealth. If enough people are so upset about the lack of porn that they switch cellphone companies, it would put pressure on Apple to reconsider their business model because they would be losing money.

I don’t know if Apple made the decision based on their values or on the demands of the market. I’m guessing that the negative feedback for having porn was greater than the negative feedback for banning porn. Either way, the decision is Apple’s alone and I think it was a good one.

Of all the taxes and fees that business owners must pay (and there are many), the least understood is probably the tax on tangible personal property (TPP).  In fact, many small business owners don’t even know what constitutes TPP.  The confusion is intensified because the requirements vary from state to state.  For example, some states consider certain types of vehicles to be TPP, while others do not.  Some states will tax inventory, while others specifically exclude it.

All states do agree that tangible personal property is best described as everything that isn’t real property.  Real property is the ground and everything permanently affixed to it.  So, the building and the land are real property.  The “stuff” inside the building is generally TPP.  TPP for a typical business would include computers, furniture and fixtures, leasehold improvements, and supplies.

An important thing to remember when preparing your TPP return is that every asset that is physically located at the site carries some value for taxation purposes.  Depreciation for your county’s TPP return is not the same as depreciation for federal income tax purposes.  While an item can be fully depreciated on your federal return, it will never reach $0 value on your local return until it is disposed of and physically removed from the property.

The best rule of thumb for reporting your tangible personal property is to report everything with ample detail.  If you made a significant software purchase and you’re not sure if your state taxes software, report it but spell out clearly what it is.  Your county officials will exclude it if it isn’t, but you’re not risking the penalties associated with not reporting.  You can’t lose by giving too much detail on your TPP return.

With the Republic of Panama gaining momentum as the preferred offshore banking destination globally, http://OffshoreLegal.org has expanded it’s client services to include Panama bank account creation and incorporation of Panama corporations. The Republic of Panama is noted by financial experts as one of the most secure banking destinations worldwide and currently is ranked at the near the top by industry analysts for offshore banking privacy and security.

Panama bank account holders enjoy a number of advantages with regards to privacy protection and asset protection (complex asset transaction) that other offshore banking destinations cannot offer their clients. In the current environment, account holders have the ability to send international wire transfers, check balances, account history and other information by accessing online banking systems remotely.

With most Panama banks now offering professional services catering to foreigners it is quite common for these clients to communicate with bank agents in their native language which is helping to give Panama a reputation for excellent service and client care.

In addition to secure banking laws, Panama has gone to great lengths to ensure that it’s laws for incorporating a corporation offer the most privacy protection possible to their owners. Owners of Panama corporations are able to open bank accounts in the name of the corporation further enhancing privacy and asset protection options.

Serious consideration should always be applied when considering an offshore destination. Potential applicants need to ensure that they are completely in compliance with local tax laws and are strongly advised to enlist the services of a professional tax and asset lawyer who can ensure their clients best interests are respected.