Apple-president verdedigt belastingontwijking

Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook is going somewhere his predecessor never ventured: the witness table at a congressional hearing on Capitol Hill.

Cook will be questioned today by U.S. senators during a hearing on the company’s untaxed overseas billions. His congressional debut, following an appearance at President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address in February, shows the iPhone maker can no longer afford to keep the low profile in Washington that co-founder Steve Jobs maintained.

“In this day and age, if you’re not here, you’re nothing but road kill,” Jim Manley, a 21-year veteran of Congress who served as spokesman to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, said in an interview.