苹果CEO指责美国政府税法过时

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2020年07月22日

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苹果CEO指责美国政府税法过时

苹果CEO蒂姆·库克(Tim Cook)在接受采访时对于苹果避税的说法进行了驳斥，他认为这种说法“纯属政治废话”(total political crap)。

测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识：

offshore 离岸的['ɒfʃɔː; ɒf'ʃɔː]

encryption 加密术[ɪn'krɪpʃən]

probe into 探索

sweetheart tax deal 优惠税收协议

mock-up 实物模型

Apple chief Tim Cook rounds on o utdated US tax code （590 words）

By Tim Bradshaw in San Francisco

* * *

Tim Cook blamed the US government’s outdated tax code for controversy over Apple’s huge offshore cash pile and defended its use of encryption technology, in a wide-ranging interview with CBS News’ 60 Minutes that aired on Sunday night.

Apple’s chief executive said accusations the company was avoiding paying taxes by holding more than $180bn of its cash balances outside the US were “total political crap. Apple pays every tax dollar we owe”.

The European Commission recently extended its probe into Apple’s alleged sweetheart tax deal with the Irish government. A final decision over whether Dublin offered the US group illegal preferential tax terms is expected early next year.

Mr Cook said the real problem was with the high US taxes applied to repatriation of corporate profits. “It would cost me 40 per cent to bring it home and I don’t think that’s a reasonable thing to do,” he said, adding that the US tax code was “made for the industrial age, not the digital age”.

“It’s awful for America. It should have been fixed many years ago. It’s past time to get it done.”

While the interview was filmed before the recent shootings in Paris and San Bernardino, Apple has since those events faced renewed criticism over its use of encryption technology, which US officials say can inhibit the ability of law enforcement to track terrorists.

Earlier this month, FBI director James Comey stepped up the pressure on tech companies such as Apple and Google, saying the issue was a “business model question”, not a technical problem.

Mr Cook insisted that Apple should maintain its commitment to protecting its customers’ privacy.

“On your iPhone, there is likely health information, there’s financial information, there are intimate conversations with your family and your co-workers, there’s probably business secrets. You should have the ability to protect it,” he said. “The only way we know how to do that is to encrypt it.”

Apple does not have access to iMessages sent by its customers and so cannot hand them over to law enforcement officials, even if the company receives a valid warrant, Mr Cook explained.

“I don’t believe that the trade-off here is privacy versus national security,” he said. “We’re America. We should have both.”

60 Minutes said that Mr Cook later told the programme that he had not changed his stance following the Paris terror attacks last month. He dismissed calls for Apple to offer a “back door” to law enforcement, saying that risked opening up customer to data to both “good guys and bad guys”.

The programme was also shown around Apple’s prototyping lab by its chief design officer, Sir Jonathan Ive, as well as shown a mock-up of how its new stores will look by retail chief Angela Ahrendts. Mr Cook gave interviewer Charlie Rose a tour of Apple’s new campus, currently under construction, saying that the cost of the 13,000-person facility was “somewhere near” the rumoured $5bn price tag.

But Mr Cook avoided a question from Mr Rose about whether Apple plans to “be in the car business”.

“One of the great things about Apple is we probably have more secrecy here than the CIA,” he said.

请根据你所读到的文章内容，完成以下自测题目：

1. What kind of accusations is the “total political crap” as Tim Cook said?

a. encryption technology

b. dumping abroad

c. avoid paying taxes

d. freedom of speech

2. Which one is probed by The European Commission on the issue of Apple’s sweetheart tax deal?

a. American government

b. Irish government

c. European distributor