Ireland was instructed by the European Commission to recover up to €13bn of alleged state aid from the company over a ten year period.
Advertisement
Mr Noonan launched an extraordinary attack on the European Commission and some other EU member states, claiming they were trying to “establish a bridgehead” to challenge Ireland’s 12.5 per cent rate, one of the lowest in the EU.
Speaking to reporters before the Group of 20 leadership summit in Hangzhou, Juncker said the decision was not aimed at the US.
Pascal Saint-Amans, director of the OECD Center for Tax Policy and Administration, dubbed Apple’s tax planning “outrageous” but, like Juncker, said the decision was based on enforcing current regulations.
European Union leaders called Sunday for China to take action on its bloated steel industry and defended an order to Ireland to collect taxes from Apple, highlighting the trade tensions looming over a global economic summit. “We are applying the rules …”
Mr Martin said that appealing the ruling was essential “to protecting the foreign investment which is vital to Ireland’s economy”.
Juncker said EU Commission investigations on taxation had mainly targeted European companies.
“They just picked a number from I don’t know where”, Cook said after Tuesday’s announcement. “We are basing our decisions on facts and on the legislation”.
The Labour Party says Ireland needs a minimum rate of effective tax for all companies and it wants to see a commission on taxation set up.
Relations between Washington and Brussels have been tested by a series of anti-trust inquiries focusing on USA technology firms such as Apple and Google that some have branded anti-American. “We believe that makes us the highest taxpayer in Ireland that year”.
Speaking before President Barack Obama’s arrival in Hangzhou on Saturday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said: “We need to find a way to make the global system of taxation more fair …”
Advertisement
Juncker – speaking to reporters at the G20 summit in China – denied that the order had been made in an effort to attack United States interests, stressing that fair taxation was key in restoring trust in the global economy.
