“At the State of the Union address just four months ago, President Obama sang the praises of Apple, a company that is consummately American — from its logo to its fashion-driven product line. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook sat proudly in Michelle Obama’s box as the president announced that for the first time in years, Mac computers would be built in America,” John E. Sununu, a former Republican senator from New Hampshire, writes for The Boston Globe.
“Last week Cook found himself in a box of a very different sort. With candor and patience that put his inquisitors off stride, he endured hours of grilling before the Senate Investigations Subcommittee,” Sununu writes. “Carl Levin, the panel’s chairman, described Apple’s behavior as ‘gimmickry’ and accused them of pursuing ‘the holy grail of tax avoidance.'”
“At issue was the company’s corporate structure and the effective tax rate that resulted from it. No one argued that Apple had done anything illegal or broken any rules. Levin simply felt that the company should pay more. Ironically, he was the only senator in the room who held office when Apple established its existing corporate structure back in 1980,” Sununu writes. “And as one of the three lonely votes against the 1986 tax bill that set the foundation of today’s system, he surely understands as well as anyone that many companies seek to limit their tax exposure while carefully complying with the laws as written.”
Sununu writes, “Making the case for his company’s decisions, Cook came off far better than the average witness on Capitol Hill. Perhaps it’s easier to be blunt when you employ 60,000 workers in the United States, but lines like ‘we pay all the taxes we owe — every single dollar’ set the tone from the start… By refusing to feel guilty about the results produced by a 30-year-old corporate structure, Cook placed the responsibility for the taxes Apple pays where it belongs: on the US Congress.
Read more in the full article here.
Related articles:
Taxing Apple just taxes you – May 24, 2013
Don’t tax Apple, tax its shareholders – May 24, 2013
If Apple paid more tax, we might pay less or something – May 22, 2013
Apple CEO Tim Cook pounds another nail into the Keynesian coffin – May 22, 2013
Apple CEO Cook makes no apology for company’s tax strategy – May 22, 2013
Apple CEO Tim Cook charms Capitol Hill – May 22, 2013
Rush Limbaugh: ‘High-tech lynching: Senate attempts to crucify Apple’ – May 21, 2013
Nobody on U.S. Senate committee laid a glove on Apple CEO Tim Cook – May 21, 2013
Senator Rand Paul: Senate committee ‘should apologize to Apple for bullying one of America’s greatest success stories’ (with video) – May 21, 2013
Ireland: We have no special tax rate deal with Apple – May 21, 2013
Apple prepares for Washington onslaught: CEO Tim Cook isn’t taking any chances with senators looking to grandstand – May 21, 2013
Watch Apple CEO Tim Cook’s live testimony before U.S. Senate, starting at 9:30am EDT – May 21, 2013
U.S. Senate investigation found no evidence that Apple did anything illegal in avoiding taxes – May 20, 2013