EU Competition Commissioner, Margrethe Vestager slams back Apple CEO Tim Cook’s accusations that this week’s European Commission’s decision to order the U.S. company to pay the €13 billion plus interest to Ireland. “This is a decision based on the facts of the case”, she said.
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The landmark ruling followed months of investigations into so-called “sweet heart deals” offered by countries such as Ireland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg which offer benign tax regimes that allow companies – particularly multinationals such as Apple, Amazon, Starbucks and Fiat Finance and Trade – to enjoy special tax arrangements to reduce their tax obligations in other countries. Twitter user Ian Carruthers, for example, wrote, “I wonder how quick the government would have people into court if we suddenly decided not to pay our own tax?” “Political crap” is what the Apple Inc.
O’Reilly’s mother pays 10 euros tax on a monthly pension of 1,050 euros ($1,170), a higher rate than the European Union said Apple’s main Irish unit paid on its profits in 2014. Doing it this way doesn’t seem like the right approach to me.
The investigation found that Apple routed nearly all the taxable profits from European sales to two Irish-based subsidiaries, which shifted the money to a “head office” that had no employees or facilities and was not taxed in any country. Here is the truth: “in that year we paid $400m to Ireland and that was based on the statutory rate of 12.5 per cent”.
In an interview with the Irish Independent, Tim Cook suggested the European commission might be trying to use state aid rules to harmonise tax rates across the EU.
Neither Apple nor the EC responded to a request for comment, nor did the Irish government.
He said he is “hopeful that we will see action, probably not in my tenure, but early in the next administration”. “They do such incredible work for Apple and we’re moving forward with the planned investments”, he said. Irish Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has recommended that the decision be appealed. “That depends on what we find when we ask more questions”. Kenny is propped up by a number of independent lawmakers from the left and right. Any failure of the Independent Alliance group to come on board would cast doubt on the government’s survival prospects. “I hope they will be as open and fast as possible for us to be able to publish the decision”.
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The EC has said that the payments were avoided as part of a subsidy for Apple from the Irish government, provided as an inducement to persuade the company to invest in the country.
