International
Apple chief denies tax ‘gimmicks’
Apple chief denies tax ‘gimmicks’
Agencies/Washington
Apple chief executive Tim Cook denied yesterday using “gimmicks” to dodge corporate taxes as the tech giant came under attack from US lawmakers for using “sham” subsidiaries and “convoluted” strategies to shift profits offshore. |
Cook told a congressional panel he was “proud of our contributions to the American economy” as he sought to deflect criticism stemming from a Senate investigation on shifting of profits offshore.
“We don’t depend on tax gimmicks,” Cook told a Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations hearing. “We don’t stash money on some Caribbean island.
Cook declared that Apple pays more corporate taxes to the US government than any other US company - $6bn - and that it has generated 600,000 jobs in the US alone.
“We’re an American company, and we’re proud to be an American company,” Cook declared. “We pay all the taxes we owe - every single dollar.”
He said Apple’s international subsidiaries have “real operations with real products” and pay required taxes in the countries where they operate.
Apple chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer, also appearing at the hearing, said that while its Irish-based holding company pays little or no taxes, “the profits have already been taxed by foreign governments where the income is earned.”