The Irish question: How does an Apple company with no employees achieve income of $30 billion?

With Google using an Irish base to pay minimum tax in Britain, there is no question that the Irish tax-evasion question has become the elephant in the living room of the modern high-tech world.

Apple Operations International, say the two senators, has no employees or physical presence and has not filed income tax returns anywhere for five years despite reporting income of $30 billion from 2009 to 2012.

Apple Sales International meanwhile, the lawmakers say, generated revenue of $74 billion over the same four-year stretch, but paid minimal taxes (a rate of .05% in 2011 for instance).

In a statement ahead of the hearing ,Senator Levin said, “Apple sought the Holy Grail of tax avoidance creating entities offshore that claimed no tax residence and helped avoid billions in taxes.

“We intend to highlight that gimmick and other Apple offshore tax avoidance tactics so that American working families who pay their share of taxes understand how offshore tax loopholes raise their tax burden, add to the federal deficit and ought to be closed.”

Apple has claimed that it pays $1 for every $6 in corporate income taxes raised in America.

McCain said, “Apple claims to be the largest U.S. corporate taxpayer, but by sheer size and scale, it is also among America’s largest tax avoiders.

“A company that found remarkable success by harnessing American ingenuity and the opportunities afforded by the U.S. economy should not be shifting its profits overseas to avoid the payment of U.S. tax, purposefully depriving the American people of revenue.”

According to Levin and McCain, Apple has skirted U.S. taxes on $44 billion over the last four years.