[wahern]

It's a stretch to say that it's a byproduct of tax rules. It's more a product of avoiding taxes, period.

Apple could repatriate its overseas profits at any time. It would have to pay taxes on those profits, yes, but that would be no different than their domestic profits. Apple would be able to deduct foreign taxes, including foreign VAT payments[1], which would put their foreign profits in parity with their domestic profits in terms of tax burden.

[1] Unlike foreign income you can't take a credit on VAT payments. But VAT payments are deductible like any other business expense. Because corporations are taxed at a fixed percentage (no progressive income brackets), it's a distinction without a difference.