Economist Joseph Stiglitz Weighs In On The EU-Apple Tax Beef

Joseph Stiglitz, a famed economist and Nobel Prize winner, is no fan of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) who was trying to avoid taxes in a "dishonest" way.Speaking to CNBC, the economist said the European Union was justified in slapping Apple with a $14.5 billion tax bill as the company was illegally operating in Ireland and breaking European rules."The fundamental point here is Apple unambiguously was trying to avoid taxes and it was doing it in a dishonest way, with complicity from the Irish government, pretending that the money, the profits, the billions of profits it was making, were really being originated in some Irish company that was registered in cyberspace and therefore did not have to pay any taxes," he explained. "And anybody looking at that says that is a ruse, that is an attempt at tax avoidance, tax evasion, whatever you want to call it."Stiglitz added that the European Union's massive bill to Apple also serves as a "fair warning" to other companies looking to duplicate what Apple has done in Ireland.Specifically, the 73-year old economist stated that the tax treatment in Ireland allowed Apple to avoid taxes on "almost all profits" Apple generated through selling its products across the entire European Union. Moreover, Stiglitz suggested that Apple's CEO Tim Cook is acting "totally irresponsible" but also Ireland's action is "harming other countries" as well.