Apple to bring cash and workers back to the US
APPLE, the world’s most valuable company, said on Wednesday it will spend $350 billion in development and create 20,000 jobs in the United States in the next five years, outlining for the first time how it will invest in the US economy following the new tax law passed late last year.
Apple said that as required by the new tax law, it will pay $38 billion in taxes from its massive cash holdings overseas. The payment is so far the largest announced from the tax plan changes, experts said.
“On the one hand, this is a record payment. On the other hand, i t shows how successful they’ve been at gaming the system” around the world, said Edward Kleinbard, a law professor at the University of Southern California.
Given the new corporate tax rate of 15.5 percent, that indicates Apple is returning around $245 billion in cash to the United States. In its last earnings report, the company reported it held $252 billion in cash overseas.
Apple has for years faced scrutiny and criticism around the world for its tax policies. The company recently agreed to pay more than $100 million in taxes to British authorities after an audit.
It has also lobbied for the US to ease tax rates on foreign profits brought back to the US, saying that such changes would allow the company to invest more freely in the US economy.
“We believe deeply in the power of American ingenuity, and we are focusing our investments in areas where we can have a direct impact on job creation and job preparedness,” said Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook in a statement. “We have a deep sense of responsibility to give back to our country and the people who help make our success possible.”
That echoes statements Cook made last year, when he told the New York Times that companies have a “moral responsibility” to grow the economy in the United States.
In addition to the tax payment, Apple said that over the next few years it will significantly add to the 84,000 employees it currently has in the US. The jobs will come from hiring at Apple’s current locations and from a new campus focused on tech support for customers. Apple will announce its location later this year. It also said it plans to build several new data centres in the US – including previously announced projects in North Carolina and Iowa – and said it broke ground on a facility on Wednesday in Nevada. Apple will spend $10 billion on building data centres, as part of a $30 billion investment.