Tim Cook on Apple’s tax avoidance: ‘That’s total political crap’

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Tim would rather you not ask about taxes.
Tim would rather you not ask about taxes.
Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Tim Cook will sat down for a wide-ranging interview with 60 Minutes host Charlie Rose for Sunday night’s episode inside Apple HQ, and it appears that the two will have a heated exchange about Apple’s tax practice.

In a preview of the interview released this afternoon, Tim Cook defended Apple’s tax policies, noting that the company pays more taxes in the United States than anyone. Rose also prodded Cook about the company’s massive pile of cash stashed overseas, asking why the CEO doesn’t bring all that money back home.

“It would cost me 40% to bring it home, and I don’t think that’s a reasonable thing to do,” replied Cook, before launching into a rant against the US tax code that was built for the industrial age and not the digital age.

Watch the heated exchange below:

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