苹果CEO库克指责美国政府税法过时

Tim Cook blamed the US government’s outdated tax code for controversy over Apple’s huge offshore cash pile and defended its use of encryption technology, in a wide-ranging interview with CBS News’ 60 Minutes that aired on Sunday night.

苹果(Apple)首席执行官蒂姆錠克(Tim Cook)在上周日晚间播出的CBS新闻(CBS News)“60分钟”节目中接受了话题广泛的采访。他在谈到围绕苹果在海外囤积巨额现金的争议时指责美国政府税法过时，并对其使用加密技术进行了辩护。

Apple’s chief executive said accusations the company was avoiding paying taxes by holding more than $180bn of its cash balances outside the US were “total political crap. Apple pays every tax dollar we owe”.

库克表示，对该公司将逾1800亿美元囤积在海外以避税的指责“纯属政治废话。苹果交足了该交的税款”。

The European Commission recently extended its probe into Apple’s alleged sweetheart tax deal with the Irish government. A final decision over whether Dublin offered the US group illegal preferential tax terms is expected early next year.

欧盟委员会(European Commission)最近延长了对苹果与爱尔兰政府之间据称达成优惠税收协议的调查。就都柏林是否为苹果提供了非法的税收优惠条款的问题，预计最终决定将于明年年初做出。

Mr Cook said the real problem was with the high US taxes applied to repatriation of corporate profits. “It would cost me 40 per cent to bring it home and I don’t think that’s a reasonable thing to do,” he said, adding that the US tax code was “made for the industrial age, not the digital age”.

库克表示，真正的问题是将企业利润汇回美国国内需要缴纳巨额税款。他说：“将这些现金带回美国，我们就需要多交40%的税款。我认为这样做是不合理的。”他补充称，美国现行税法是“为工业时代、而非数字时代制定的”。

“It’s awful for America. It should have been fixed many years ago. It’s past time to get it done.”

“这对美国来说非常糟糕。这种错误在很多年以前就应该被纠正了。早就应该修订税法。”

While the interview was filmed before the recent shootings in Paris and San Bernardino, Apple has since those events faced renewed criticism over its use of encryption technology, which US officials say can inhibit the ability of law enforcement to track terrorists.

尽管此次采访是在巴黎和圣贝纳迪诺最近枪杀事件之前录制的，但自那些事件以来苹果再次面临关于其使用加密技术的批评——美国官员表示，加密技术阻碍了执法部门追踪恐怖分子的能力。

Earlier this month, FBI director James Comey stepped up the pressure on tech companies such as Apple and Google, saying the issue was a “business model question”, not a technical problem.

本月早些时候，美国联邦调查局(FBI)局长詹姆斯科米(James Comey)加大了对苹果和谷歌(Google)等科技公司的压力，他表示，这个问题是“商业模式问题”，而非技术问题。

Mr Cook insisted that Apple should maintain its commitment to protecting its customers’ privacy.

库克坚称，苹果应该坚持其保护客户隐私的承诺。

“On your iPhone, there is likely health information, there’s financial information, there are intimate conversations with your family and your co-workers, there’s probably business secrets. You should have the ability to protect it,” he said. “The only way we know how to do that is to encrypt it.”

他说：“在你的iPhone上可能有健康信息，有金融信息，有你与家人和同事的亲密交流，可能还有商业秘密。你应该有能力保护它。我们知道唯一保护的方式就是给它加密。”

Apple does not have access to iMessages sent by its customers and so cannot hand them over to law enforcement officials, even if the company receives a valid warrant, Mr Cook explained.

库克解释称，苹果无法读取其客户发送的iMessage，因此不可能将它们交给执法官员，即便该公司收到了有效法庭命令。

“I don’t believe that the trade-off here is privacy versus national security,” he said. “We’re America. We should have both.”

他说：“我认为隐私与国家安全之间不存在取舍。我们是美国，我们应该两者兼备。”