As reported by the irishmirror.ie, European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager stated that: "…Apple was paying €50 in tax on every one million euro of profit it made in 2014." That equates to a tax rate percentage of 0.005% which is essentially zero. As might be expected, Apple likes to project the image that they pay all their taxes, as CEO Tim Cook defiantly stated to Congress, "We pay all the taxes we owe, every single dollar." A statement such as that is disingenuous as best, and in reality is actually fundamentally and foundationally a total lie. In point of fact, the people that work at Apple and work with Apple, are extremely clever and gifted, in which, as anybody with any sensibility knows, part of the money that you keep, is reducing taxes that are paid; such as the tax set asides so granted for property tax relief, as well as all the other governmental services that lobbyists can get subsidized on behalf of Apple, such as research and development tax credits; in addition to all the favors generated for Apple by counties, localities, States, and nations. After all, Apple has the largest market capitalization of any corporation in the entire world as well as being highly respected, so that, what Apple wants, Apple typically gets.
There are multiple problems with Apple not paying their fair share of taxes, of which, the first problem is the non-recognition that fair taxation as contrasted to the legal amount of taxation that is due and payable are not now, and have never been the same thing. The next problem is that competing against Apple is not going to be fair to begin with, because of the gargantuan size advantage as well as the influence of Apple, so that when Apple pays their taxes at an appreciably lower tax rate, than what their competitors pay at, then Apple's advantage is even greater. So too, companies such as Apple are essentially able to get legislation, taxation or otherwise, that favors Apple, written for Apple, not only because of the size of the corporation, but also because of the prestige of being associated with Apple, since the products that they sell are so highly sought and praised. The most egregious problem with Apple not paying their fair share of taxes, though, is simply that Apple, perhaps more than any other corporation in American history, has the ability and capability to easily pay their fair share of taxes, of which, those taxes fairly paid, would be redistributed throughout society, localities, and communities in such a manner that the least amongst us, would be able to have a better opportunity to have good shelter, good healthcare, good education, and food enough.
When the richest amongst us, corporate or individual, does not pay their fair share in taxes, but instead has those taxes passed onto those that are already heavily burdened and struggling, so that this lack of taxes being collected, does its part in contributing to massive governmental fiscal deficits, thereby being callously passed onto future generations yet unborn; this signifies, that the tax code as written and implemented is seriously broken, and the fact that massive corporations such as Apple seem to take perverse pride in not paying their fair share, indicates that the division between the have and the have-nots is only going to get wider and wider.