In a public letter to Apple customers on August 30, Cook wrote: “We are committed to Ireland and we plan to continue investing there, growing and serving our customers with the same level of passion and commitment”.
Advertisement
Apple’s Tim Cook has continued his attack on the European Commission’s demand earlier this week that the computer giant pay €13bn to the Irish government that it says it owes in unpaid taxes.
“I’m pretty confident that the [Irish] Government will do the right thing. There should be a public discussion about it”.
Cook also rejected allegation by EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager that Apple had paid just 0.005 percent tax in Ireland in 2014. “This is due to Apple’s decision to record all sales in Ireland rather than in the countries where the products were sold”, the commission said in a statement on Tuesday.
Apple CEO Tim Cook is not mincing words when it comes to his thoughts on the tax battle facing his company.
Cook said previous year that he would “love to” repatriate Apple’s foreign profits but that he can’t because “it would cost me 40%”. In the year that the Commission says we paid that tax figure, we actually paid $400 million.
Vestager had said Apple’s tax rate on its profits was only 0.05 percent in 2011 and 0.005 percent in 2014. “Like any marriage you go through pothole here or there but we stuck together because we always felt so close to the community and the people there”. “I think we should stand up and say that very clearly”. “Ireland is being picked on and this is unacceptable”, Cook was quoted as saying. Further talks are planned before it will make a decision.
She said on Thursday that the calculations were based on data provided by Apple itself and evidence presented during hearings on Apple tax issues in the United States. However, Cook insisted that Apple and Ireland had “played by the rules” and would win the case on appeal.
Washington has lined up with the tech giant, accusing the European Union of trying to grab tax revenue that should go to the US government. The fact that Apple was targeted is also in part a reflection of anti-U.S. sentiment, he said.
Advertisement
Controversy has raged across the country on whether to pursue the unpaid tax and risk the wrath of multinationals, which the Irish economy depends heavily upon, or to fight the European Union finding. “But it should be talked about going forward, not in a way that retrofits the law to what others wish it was”.
