Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook is proposing tax changes to encourage firms to bring home more of their offshore funds. He is hoping that this spin will take pressure off what might be seen as a grilling from congress over Apples overseas cash holdings and tax bills.

Cook's cunning plan is to put more companies' offshore money to use creating jobs and conducting research and development in the United States. Basically this means the US would have to cut its 35 percent tax on cash brought back to the United States which he thinks is too high.

Next Tuesday's hearing is centered on possible changes to the tax code to ensure that more cash-rich companies bring their money back the United States. Big corporates are being quizzed about all the cash they hide off shore to avoid paying high tax bills. Google is in big trouble in the UK, where parliament is concerned that it is lying to the tax man about how it runs its sales teams from tax havens.