Apple has responded to a New York Times piece accusing the company of "[sidestepping] billions in taxes" by arguing that it has created hundreds of thousands of US jobs while focusing on innovation. The company says it "pays an enormous amount of taxes" to local, state, and federal governments, and maintains that it conducts business "with the highest of ethical standards."
The piece that Apple is responding to was published over the weekend. The massive feature details how Apple strategically places parts of its business in various states and countries that facilitate a favorable corporate tax rate. The strategies outlined in the Times report are common among American corporations—a fact acknowledged by the Times itself—but Apple's high profile and large pile of cash ($110 billion, as of the second fiscal quarter of 2012) have put it under the corporate tax spotlight.
Apple says it complies with all applicable laws and accounting rules. "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," the company wrote in its response to the New York Times. "Apple also pays an enormous amount of taxes which help our local, state and federal governments. In the first half of fiscal year 2012 our US operations have generated almost $5 billion in federal and state income taxes, including income taxes withheld on employee stock gains, making us among the top payers of US income tax."
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