APPLE Inc used "loopholes" to avoid paying US$9 billion in US taxes in 2012, US Senator Carl Levin said yesterday at a hearing that brought the company's Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook to Washington to defend the strategies.

　　2012年蘋果公司用“漏洞”來逃脫支付90億美元的美國稅款，美國參議員Carl Levin在昨天舉行的聽證會上說，從而導致公司的首席執行官蒂姆·庫克來到華盛頓采取捍衛策略。

　　"Apple executives want the public to focus on the US taxes the company has paid, but the real issue is the billions in taxes it has not paid," said Levin, a Michigan Democrat. Apple employs "offshore tax strategies whose purpose is tax avoidance, pure and simple," he said.

　　“蘋果高管希望公眾關注該公司支付的美國稅收，但真正的問題是數十億美元的稅收他們還沒有支付，”密歇根州民主黨人萊文說。蘋果公司雇傭“離岸稅務策略，其目的是避稅，單純而簡單，”他說。

　　Apple, in written testimony, denied any wrongdoing and said the company was one of the largest taxpayers in the US, having paid US$6 billion last year.

　　蘋果，在書面證詞中，否認有任何不當行為，并表示該公司是美國最大的納稅人，在去年支付了60億美元稅收。

　　Cook and two other executives - including Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer - appeared before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The panel, led by Levin, in a report on Monday said Apple's subsidiaries include three entities that have no home country for tax purposes.

　　庫克和其他兩名高管——包括首席財務官彼得·奧本海默——在常務調查委員會之前出現。這個小組由萊文領導，在周一的一份報告說蘋果公司的子公司包括三家分公司不屬于任何國家，也沒有納稅。

　　In the last four years, Apple has avoided paying taxes on US$44 billion in income, said Senator John McCain of Arizona, the panel's top Republican. He called the company "one of the biggest tax avoiders in America."

　　在過去的四年里，蘋果公司逃了440億美元的稅收，亞利桑那州參議員約翰·麥凱恩說，該委員會的共和黨領袖。他稱該公司是美國最大的避稅者。

　　Three entities set up in Ireland hold 60 percent of Apple's profits and claim to be tax residents "nowhere in the world," McCain said. "It's completely outrageous."

　　在愛爾蘭設立的三個子公司持有60%的蘋果利潤，宣稱自己不是“世界上任何地方”的稅收居民，麥凱恩說。“這完全是荒唐。”

　　Not all lawmakers supported summoning Apple executives to the hearing. Senator Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, said Apple was dealing with an "awful" tax code.

　　并不是所有的議員都支持召喚蘋果高管聽證。參議員蘭德·保羅，一位肯塔基州共和黨議員表示，蘋果在處理一項“可怕”的稅法。

　　Apple also said it supports a broader overhaul of the US tax system.

　　蘋果還說它支持全面改革美國的稅收系統。