Myths Apple Is Using to Justify Their 30% Tax on Apps

It is interesting how the word tax is used to invoke negative feelings in the discussion about Apple's App Store commission fee.

In many governmental organisations, the financial administration is transparent so people can verify that their tax is used in the way that their government states.

In the case of Apple, the flow of App Store commissions fee finances is (at least for me) far from transparent. Apple say they use it for hosting and reviewing, but don't share breakdowns publicly, as far as I know.

Perhaps if Apple's "taxpayers" (developers) can (1) get more detailed breakdowns of what happens with the commission fee so they can hold Apple accountable and (2) get more leverage in the App Store's guidelines through some sort of democratic voting system, it would actually resemble governmental taxation a bit more.

> Myth 6. App Store’s 30% commission is in line with what other platforms are charging.

A point not raised regarding this, but should have been: This isn't a justification at all. It just shows the problem of middlemen extorting money from the market is widespread. It makes doing something about it more urgent, not less.