Tim Cook thinks America’s tax code is horribly outdated

Taxes aren’t very fun, which is why so many multinational corporations like to use their ability to operate in multiple countries to avoid them. According to some American politicians, Apple is one of these companies, but in an interview with CBS, CEO Tim Cook dismissed those accusations as “political crap.” He then went on to explain how the tax code in the United States is horribly outdated, and how it’s still stuck in the industrial age, even though we’re in the digital age.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has lashed out at politicians who claim the company is avoiding tax in the U.S., slamming the accusations as “political crap.” In an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes,” Cook said the company keeps its overseas revenue outside of the U.S. because the country’s “industrial age” code would force Apple to pay 40 percent tax to bring that revenue home. Critics have long targeted Apple for its revenue practices. An October report from Citizens for Tax Justice revealed Apple keeps more of its profits offshore than Google and Microsoft combined. Apple holds $181.1 billion in taxable income overseas, by far the highest amount any U.S. company holds outside the country. Cook said that two-thirds of the company’s revenue comes from foreign countries and the company keeps that money in its foreign subsidiaries. He attacked members of Congress who suggested the practice is part of a scheme to avoid paying tax. “That is total political crap. There is no truth behind it. Apple pays every tax dollar we owe,” he said. “We pay more taxes in this country than anyone.”