First Person is a Radio New Zealand podcast series by John Campbell - @JohnJCampbell

This started as a podcast about Apple, then (just like an apple) it grew.

Listen ( duration 23 ′ : 46 ″ )

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John Campbell is an Apple user, he has an iPod and an iPhone (it's a bashed old 4, but he loves it).

But when John heard that for the financial year ending 27 September 2014, Apple New Zealand had revenue of $568 million and paid tax of only $6.8 million, he was really confused.

How?



Why?

The answer, it seems, is in Apple New Zealand's cost of sales - $551 million.

That's 97% of their revenue.

Photo: AFP

John set out to find Apple New Zealand, so he could ask them why their costs were so high?

In the process he learnt all about a revolutionary move by the OECD to address multinational tax avoidance.

Starring the OECD's Pascal Saint-Amans, New Zealand's Bernard Hickey, Apple and John Campbell himself, this is a podcast of taxes, questions, confusion and discovery.