Apple co-founder advocates a 50% tax rate for businesses
Apple’s co-founder Steve Wozniak has advocated a 50 per cent tax rate for all companies after being pressed on the issue of tax avoidance during an interview with the BBC.
Expressing discomfort at Apple’s own current tax affairs Wozniak said his former business and others including Google and Amazon were not pulling their weight and should contribute more to the societies in which they operate.
Speaking to Radio 5 Live he said: “I don't like the idea that Apple might be unfair - not paying taxes the way I do as a person.
"I do a lot of work, I do a lot of travel and I pay over 50 per cent of anything I make in taxes and I believe that's part of life and you should do it… Every company in the world should.”
Apple has come under fire in the press for routing its European profits through a subsidiary in the Republic of Ireland where corporation tax is levied at a rate of just 12.5 per cent – versus 20 per cent in the UK.
Under separate lines of questioning Wozniak expressed a relaxed view on the prospect of Britain exiting the European Union, though expressed the advantages of free movement of goods and people.
Wozniak also backed Apple in its dispute with the US government, claiming that Apple was the ‘good guy’ in its fight to prevent law enforcement officials from accessing private phone data.