Dive Brief:
- The mayor of Cupertino, CA — headquarters of technology behemoth Apple — said the company's employees are a burden on the city's roads and transportation systems and that Apple should pay $100 million toward improving the infrastructure, The Guardian reported.
- Apple paid $9.2 million, 18% of the city's general fund budget, to Cupertino between 2012 and 2013 — the same amount as CEO Tim Cook's salary, according to The Guardian.
- Mayor Barry Chang is working on a business employer tax proposal that would require companies with 100 employees or more to pay $1,000 per employee.
Dive Insight:
Before he was mayor, then-councilman Chang said he tried to have a meeting with Apple executives about the traffic congestion in the city but was booted out the door by security. However, unlike citizens who are trying to stop additional development in the city, Chang told The Guardian that philosophy that will hurt the economy, so he suggested raising taxes on the wealthy companies in the city instead.
Chang said he's hit a roadblock, though, when it comes to getting local officials on board to his proposed tax scheme because "council members don't want to offend" Apple. Steve Jobs reportedly threatened to move the project to Mountain View, CA, in 2011 when the council asked him what Apple planned to do for the community in exchange for the inconvenience of construction, Business Insider reported.
Construction is still underway on Apple's new headquarter building, commonly referred to as the "Spaceship," in Cupertino. The company has said it is paying the same attention to detail on construction as it did to the development of the iPhone. The company also has created the world's largest carbon-fiber freestanding roof for its onsite theater. Construction on the $5 billion headquarters project is expected to be completed later in 2016.