What you need to know
- Apple's tax practices have come under fire at the Davos summit.
- Specifically, they were named by economist and Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz.
- He said that companies that don't pay their fair share of taxes aren't corporately responsible.
Apple's tax practices have come under fire at global summit Davos from US economist Joseph Stiglitz.
As reported by 9to5 Mac, the Nobel laureate criticized Apple and questioned its corporate responsibility:
"If you aren't contributing by paying your fair share of taxes, you aren't corporately responsible. Some companies get a lot of attention, like Apple. You have to ask: are they sincere?"
He is no doubt referring to Apple's criticized practice of running its EU operation through Ireland, where it pays very favorable rates. However, Apple has always maintained that it pays its fair share of taxes as required by law in all of the countries in which it operates.
Tim Cook is himself an advocate for global tax reform. Earlier this week he stated:
"I think logically everybody knows it needs to be rehauled, I would certainly be the last person to say that the current system or the past system was the perfect system. I'm hopeful and optimistic that they (the OECD) will find something,"
In 2016, the European Union argued that Apple's tax arrangement with Ireland was not fair, and ordered Ireland to recover $14.5 billion in taxes from Apple, a ruling that both parties are currently appealing.
