Tim Cook calls notion of Apple avoiding US taxes “political crap”

Cook described the tax avoidance accusations as “total political crap”, and deflected blame on the US tax code for being far outdated.

Here’s a tease of what the program will look like, courtesy of the nice folks at CBS who’d like you to tune in.

Cook noted in his “60 Minutes” interview that the US tax code is to blame for companies being reluctant to bring their foreign profits home.

Apple’s chief designer Jony Ives will accompany Rose on a visit of the company’s design studio at Apple headquarters, giving viewers some insight into the “future” of Apple products. Most other countries have a territorial system.

Cook told Rose that bringing that money to the USA would cost him 40 percent – making the move unreasonable.

Cook acknowledges that the company also has more money overseas than anyone, while two-thirds of the company is located out of the United States. “I don’t think that’s a reasonable thing to do”, he said.

“[The tax code] was made for the industrial age, not the digital age”. It’s backwards. It’s terrible for America.

Rose interviewed Cook before last month’s terror attacks in Paris, in which the attackers used encrypted messages to communicate with each other. It should have been fixed many years ago. “It’s past time to get it down”, he said. Unless served with a warrant, private communication is private and a back door for the government for national security is not the solution.

Cook is also expected to address questions on Apple’s strong privacy position and encryption, which law enforcement officials say prevent proper investigations into criminal activity even when a warrant is issued.