After Charles Duhigg at The New York Times revealed Apple has elaborate systems in place to dodge taxes, it decided to defend itself.
The result is underwhelming and defensive. We have Apple's full statement below.
The key points:
- We've created 500,000 jobs! (But it counts the UPS dude who delivers you your iPad as a job created ...)
- The vast majority of our global workforce remains in the U.S.! (Yes, because the people who make iPads aren't technically Apple employees, they're Foxconn employees ...)
- We donate to charity all the time and don't talk about it! (That's great, but what does that have to do with anything?)
- We've paid $5 billion in taxes in the first half of our fiscal 2012! (Sounds nice, but the NYT says that likely includes taxes from employees, which inflates the number. The whole point of the story is that Apple the company isn't paying much tax.)
Here's the statement in full as provided to the New York Times:
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. Apple’s international growth is creating jobs domestically since we oversee most of our operations from California. We manufacture parts in the U.S. and export them around the world, and U.S. developers create apps that we sell in over 100 countries. As a result, Apple has been among the top creators of American jobs in the past few years.
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 U.S. 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 U.S. income tax.
We have contributed to many charitable causes but have never sought publicity for doing so. Our focus has been on doing the right thing, not getting credit for it. In 2011, we dramatically expanded the number of deserving organizations we support by initiating a matching gift program for our employees.
Apple has conducted all of its business with the highest of ethical standards, complying with applicable laws and accounting rules. We are incredibly proud of all of Apple’s contributions.
