EU rejects Apple chief's political bias jibe
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Competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said greater tax transparency was needed to help tackle corporate tax avoidance (Photo: EC - Audiovisual Service Photo: Georges Boulougouris)
The EU's most powerful business regulator has dismissed accusations of political bias from Apple chief Tim Cook.
In an interview with the Irish Independent, Cook described the EU decision that Apple must pay €13bn in back taxes as "total political crap".
“They just picked a number from I don’t know where. In the year that the commission says we paid that tax figure, we actually paid $400m. We believe that makes us the highest taxpayer in Ireland that year," he said.
Competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager imposed the sanction on Apple earlier this week in a case that has riled both US and Irish authorities.
She rebuffed Cook's assertion and said the case against Apple had been based on facts.
"The enforcement part of the competition portfolio does not really fit into any political picture," she told reporters in Brussels.
She also defended earlier statements on Apple's low tax rate.
Vestager had said Apple's tax rate on its profits was only 0.05 percent in 2011 and 0.005 percent in 2014.
Cook had also dismissed those figures.
But Vestager said the numbers were obtained from Apple itself, while others dating from 2011 came from US hearings.
"There are very little if any figures in the public domain," she said.
