Apple Scrutinized on Tax Avoidance
The office of Apple Operations International, a subsidiary of Apple Inc. in Cork, Ireland. The U.S. Senate says Apple avoids taxes on billions of dollars of profit by funneling money through its Irish subsidiaries. (Photo: REUTERS/Michael MacSweeney)
Apple is the world’s most valuable company.
It also makes things many of us love.
So some of you may even be taking it personally that Apple is on the ropes today.
The public scrutiny is over charges that Apple Inc. avoids paying billions of dollars in taxes every year.
Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, today denied that.
He was being grilled by a Senate sub-committee that released a report detailing the accusations.
The report said Apple has three international subsidiaries based in Ireland, but claims no tax residency there.
The Senate sub-committee is investigating if Apple broke any laws.
Recently similar tax avoidance strategies were used by Google, Starbucks, and Amazon causing anger in the United Kingdom.
Margaret Hodge, member of British Parliament and chair of the Public Accounts Committee, is working to bring these tax avoiders to what she calls “justice.”
She says while companies claim that all their affairs are legal, they need to be investigated in detail to ensure that they’re complying with these standards.
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