Advocacy group targets Apple as a tax 'cheater'

03.06.2011

The "tax cheat" coalition is taking money from the U.S. government, Clayton said. "The middle class has to make that up, either through cuts, or through higher middle-class taxes," he said.

As of Friday afternoon, US Uncut members had Saturday protests planned at about 20 Apple locations, including Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, and Washington, D.C.

Three Apple representatives didn't return e-mails and one didn't return a phone message seeking comment on the US Uncut protests. WinAmerica also did not return an e-mail.

Although of dodging billions of dollars in taxes, the company's tax payments are in line with several other tech companies. In 2010, Apple recorded an effective tax rate of 24 percent of its income, a larger percentage than recorded by several other large tech companies, including Google, Hewlett-Packard, Yahoo and eBay. The effective tax rate includes current and future worldwide income taxes a company expects to pay, Lunardoni said.

WinAmerica members argue that repatriation of foreign earnings at a low tax rate would stimulate the slow U.S. economy. include Microsoft, Cisco Systems, Google, Oracle and Adobe Systems.