News Summary: Apple CEO grilled over company taxes

DRAGGED INTO DEBATE: A Senate panel dragged Apple Inc., the world's most valuable company, into the debate over the U.S. tax code. Senators grilled CEO Tim Cook over allegations that Apple's Irish subsidiaries help the company avoid billions in U.S. taxes.

COOK SAYS NO: Cook said the subsidiaries have nothing to do with reducing Apple's U.S. taxes. Rather, like other multinationals, the company avoids paying the 35 percent federal tax rate on overseas profits by not bringing those profits back to the U.S., he said. Apple has no plans to bring back some of its more than $100 billion stash unless the tax rate is reduced.

TAXES OWED?: The California-based company paid $2.5 billion in federal taxes in 2011 and $6 billion in 2012. A report by the Senate panel, the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, estimates that Apple avoided about $3.5 billion in U.S. federal taxes in 2011 and $9 billion in 2012 by using its tax strategy.