Tim Cook Testimony Opening Statments: Apple Waves The Biggest American Flag It Can

Impact

Apple CEO Tim Cook’s opening statements started out with him waving the biggest American flag that he could find, emphasizing that Apple was an American company with an "empathetic yes."

As expected Apple began listing off its accomplishments, in perhaps an attempt to argue that those outweighed its tax exploitation strategy. He even gave a shout-out to Kentucky, a clear nod to Senator Rand Paul. Paul is likely to be Cook’s biggest ally during this hearing.

He claimed that they paid an effective 32% U.S. tax rate. Apple’s actual tax rate is 20.1% according to congressional investigation however.

Cook claimed that Apple was a champion of human rights, something the workers at FoxConn may take issue with.

He then shifted to attack the U.S. tax code. He made a pitch for revenue-neutral tax reform, a plan that would make Apple pay more taxes according to cook. Questions emerge if strident anti-tax legislators will swallow such a pill.