Speaking about the Apple Tax ruling he said Ireland has the right to decide it’s own tax affairs.
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Other companies that also have headquarters in Ireland are being unfairly taxed when compared to Apple and Commissioner Margrethe Vestager have decided it to be illegal and that Apple will be responsible for the repayment of said benefits.
Unfortunately it’s one of those things you have to work through.
Apple has been operating in Ireland since the 1980s.
Stating that Apple “follows the law and we pay all the taxes we owe”, Cook noted that his company is also “the largest taxpayer in Ireland, the largest taxpayer in the United States, and the largest taxpayer in the world”. “Ireland does not do deals with taxpayers”. In the year that the commission says we paid that tax figure, we actually paid $400m.
Only a small fraction of Apple’s profits was allocated to its “Irish branch” so only those profits were taxed by Ireland.
Cook denied that his company received any special treatment, though, and said Apple would win the case on an appeal. She said the multinational’s effective corporate tax rate on its European profits dropped from 1% in 2003 to a mere 0.0005% in 2014.
“There are many uncertainties ahead but if we assume that the money will definitely come through, the sum of 13 billion euros is not insignificant for an economy the size of Ireland”, said Moritz Kraemer, the ratings agency’s chief European sovereign rating officer. Cook has complained in the past that high US taxes have discouraged the company from bringing those earnings home.
He suggested that this process will happen next year. “They don’t care about the normal people”, said Louise O’Reilly, 57, a full-time carer for her diabetic and partially blind mother.
“Beyond the obvious targeting of Apple, the most profound and harmful effect of this ruling will be on investment and job creation in Europe”. There were much more to his letter but we will need to wait and see what the ultimate decision will be.
The tech boss called on Irish government ministers to “do the right thing” when they meet Friday and approve an appeal against the ruling.
Cook said that Apple themselves will be appealing the decision and further added that the company’s confidence in Ireland “hasn’t been diminished one iota”.
“The U.S.is somewhat unique in that it taxes its corporations on their worldwide income”, Addis said.
The European Commission would obviously disagree.
“It’s like playing a sports game and winning the championship and then finding out the goals are worth less than you thought they were”, he said. Meanwhile, yesterday evening it emerged that Taoiseach Enda Kenny had spoken to Cook prior to the bombshell announcement by the EC.
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In an interview on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland this morning, Cook described the ruling as “maddening and disappointing”. We went into Ireland in 1980, we didn’t go there to seek advantages on taxes, we had only 60 employees, very little revenue.
