Apple should pay 50% tax, according to co-founder Steve Wozniak

When asked if he thought Apple should pay 50 per cent tax, he said: "I think every company in the world should."

Wozniak, who left Apple in 1985, said he and Jobs assumed when they founded Apple that they would pay taxes on it (Getty Images)

The co-founder of Apple has said that all companies should pay a 50 per cent tax rate.

Steve Wozniak, who founded Apple with Steve Jobs in 1976, told the BBC that he doesn't like to think that Apple wouldn't pay the same rate of tax as a person.

"I do a lot of work, I do a lot of travel and I pay over 50 per cent of anything I make in taxes and I believe that's part of life and you should do it," he said.

When asked if he thought Apple should pay 50 per cent tax, he said: "I think every company in the world should."

Apple is registered to pay tax in Ireland on much of its European business, where tax is 12.5 per cent compared to the 25 per cent in the UK.

Corporate tax is 35 per cent in the US, but Oxfam data has shown that Apple has an effective US tax rate of 26 per cent because of money it receives in tax breaks and almost $200 million held offshore.

Apple has three subsidiaries in Ireland, the company confirmed.

Apple, Google and Amazon are part of a European Commission tax enquiry. A European Commission investigation has revealed that Apple may owe as much as $8 billion (£5.6 billion) in taxes.

Wozniak, who left Apple in 1985, said he and Jobs assumed when they founded Apple that they would pay taxes on it.

"If you make money you should pay some taxes to government on it, I believe that very strongly," he said.

"We knew the company we founded in 1976 would be a worldwide company and we just assumed we would pay taxes on it.

"Maybe the taxes are different for a company than they are for a person, but we didn't think we'd be figuring ways to go off to the Bahamas to have special accounts like people do to hide their money," he added.