This has nothing to do with the tax plan. It's a $5 billion additional investment in US operations over 5 years, most likely due to competitive pressures and regular business growth. If you want to thank anyone, thank Google/Amazon/Microsoft for forcing Apple to do this.
That $5 billion over 5 years is nothing for Apple, since they get about $100 billion in revenue each year from the US alone, with a large percentage of that in pure profit.
They don't need repatriated cash for this $1 billion/year investment.
It's a pretty small US investment, really.
That's why they spend their cash on dividends. Dividends basically means they a company has better idea on what to spend their money on than to just give it back to their shareholders.
That $5 billion over 5 years is nothing for Apple, since they get about $100 billion in revenue each year from the US alone, with a large percentage of that in pure profit.
They don't need repatriated cash for this $1 billion/year investment.
It's a pretty small US investment, really.
That's why they spend their cash on dividends. Dividends basically means they a company has better idea on what to spend their money on than to just give it back to their shareholders.