Apple’s Cook meets Macron amid calls for tech taxes

epa06215507 Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks at the opening of the inaugural Bloomberg Global Business Forum at the Plaza Hotel in New York, New York, USA, 20 September 2017. The forum will feature more than 50 heads of state and 250 international CEOs as it is held on the sidelines of the ongoing nearby General Debate of the United Nations General Assembly.  EPA-EFE/ANDREW GOMBERT

Bloomberg

Apple Inc. Chief Executive
Officer Tim Cook met Emmanuel Macron in Paris, and according to French officials he didn’t push back against calls by the French president and European allies to change rules in the region to get technology giants to pay more taxes.
The two met at the French presidential palace at the request of Cook.
Macron is leading a group of countries—including Germany, Italy and Spain—that are seeking a way to plug the European loopholes that allow some companies to minimise taxes by funneling profits to jurisdictions such as Ireland or the Netherlands. Macron’s office said the two didn’t discuss past tax disputes, but Cook accepted that fiscal laws worldwide are shifting toward making companies pay tax where money is actually earned.
Apple officials in Paris didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Cook also met with the company’s French suppliers and developers during his visit to France.
While setting out as a champion for tech companies and flagging his desire to make his country “a startup nation,” Macron and his ministers have been increasingly vocal about companies like Apple, Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Facebook Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Airbnb Inc. needing to change their ways. Macron said last month in Tallinn, Estonia, during a European Union summit, that internet giants don’t contribute to the common good.

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