Apple CEO Tim Cook was called to Capitol Hill Tuesday for a hearing on his company’s tax payments. In the hearing, Cook said, “We pay all the taxes we owe, every single dollar.  We not only comply with the laws, we comply with the spirit of the laws.”  While Apple’s payments appear to have been legal, this undefined “spirit of the laws” is hardly being met by Apple Inc., which has allegedly placed the majority of it’s profits in off-shore tax havens.  Unless the spirit of the law Mr. Cook is talking about is a blindfolded Lady Justice playing a game of Apple pinata and hitting taxpayers instead.  The presiding Senator of the hearing, Sen. Carl Levin (D-Michigan), maintains that Apple has been evading taxes and using tax loopholes to avoid paying their due diligence to the U.S. Government, along with other major American corporations.  Microsoft and Hewitt-Packard have both been called to the Hill for evasion.

The Senator and Cook butted heads for four hours, but did appear to agree on something.  Levin stated several times during Tuesday’s hearing that the problem is not Apple, but the U.S. Tax Code.  In an NPR interview, Levin stated that his problem is with “the tax code, surely with the way its written and implemented by the IRS.”  This allows, in his view, corporations too much leniency for taxes to be effective, resulting in the evasion that Apple and others have participated in. Cook agreed that the tax code needs to be rewritten but with the opposite political leaning, opting for lower corporate taxes. During the entire hearing, Cook appeared to be enjoying himself, giggling and laughing all the way.  It still remains to be seen if his humor at this charade was warranted or if the taxman is going to get the last laugh.