The Irish government, over the decades, has assisted Apple in assembling a system of subsidiaries, both real and on paper, that allow the tech company to pay nearly no tax on European profits.
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Following the controversial ruling last week, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan accused Europe of trying to “establish a bridgehead” to get at Ireland and increase its 12.5 per cent corporation tax rate.
Apple says the commission is rewriting tax law and putting jobs at risk while claiming to have done nothing wrong.
Labour says it will “demand more be done to close down remaining loopholes in tax law; call for the introduction of minimum effective tax rates for all companies in the forthcoming Budget; and call for the establishment of a standing commission on taxation”.
In an interview to Irish Independent newspaper, Cook said Ireland is being “picked on”.
Meanwhile, EU President has warned Ireland must obey the ruling.
Naturally, this caused quite a lot of uproar in Cupertino, with Tim Cook calling this “total political crap”. “Ireland must now recover the illegal aid”, an European Union statement read.
However, Mr Hogan said that, as far he was concerned, the decision published last week by the European Commission was based on facts, not politics.
The ruling against Apple has pushed the issue into the limelight and raised the risk of significant push-back from the United States, analysts say, where some lawmakers are saying the result represents a European encroachment on the U.S. potential tax base.
“No, the way it works is where you are a member of an Irish government, you are a member of a cabinet, and when you make a decision, you go out and defend it, irrespective of what you might have said in the room – there’s collective cabinet responsibility”, he said.
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“It’s a very hard decision and I am not surprised that the Irish government has appealed the decision”.
