Re: Probably because - @bluenose
In the US a board of directors has two main legal responsibilities - a Duty of Care and a Duty of Loyalty. While they can get away under the Duty of Care with business decisions that work out badly (depending on how badly, and how ill-informed they were when they made them) its pretty easy to argue that a reasonable person (which is the legal test) wouldn't pay more tax than they had to, which would leave the board liable.
You also seem to have failed to spot that the Apple board first voted to restart paying dividends over two years ago, following which their share price climbed hugely, even though it has since fallen back somewhat (you'd still be ahead if you purchased back then).
Conversely maximising share price in the short term, to increase the value of the board members personal holdings, is a breach of the Duty of Loyalty. Generally the reason for a board working to keep the share price up is to prevent the company being bought out for less than its asset value (and they have extra duties in the case of the sale of the company), which is both bad for shareholders and likely to have them looking for a new job.