Google’s PR office wasn’t the only one working over the weekend. Apple was the subject of a huge New York Times article yesterday that said the company uses a vast intricate strategy to sidestep billions of dollars in taxes in countries all around the world. For instance, a very small Apple office in Reno allows the company to avoid millions of dollars in California, even though Cupertino, California is the headquarters of the company. California has a corporate tax, Nevada does not.
From the Times:
As it has in Nevada, Apple has created subsidiaries in low-tax places like Ireland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and the British Virgin Islands — some little more than a letterbox or an anonymous office — that help cut the taxes it pays around the world.
Almost every major corporation tries to minimize its taxes, of course. For Apple, the savings are especially alluring because the company’s profits are so high. Wall Street analysts predict Apple could earn up to $45.6 billion in its current fiscal year — which would be a record for any American business.
Now, Apple has responded saying the company pays plenty in taxes and creates a whole lot of jobs along the way:
Over the past several years, we have created an incredible number of jobs in the United States. The vast majority of our global work force remains in the U.S., with more than 47,000 full-time employees in all 50 states. By focusing on innovation, we’ve created entirely new products and industries, and more than 500,000 jobs for U.S. workers — from the people who create components for our products to the people who deliver them to our customers
What does avoiding taxes have to do with creating jobs? Apple never really spells that part out.
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