Cook said that Apple will siphon or “repatriate” several billion dollars to the United State – probably next year.
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No, the Commission has adjudged that the Irish State, through the agency of its independently-governed tax collection agency, the Revenue Commissioners, deliberately and in return for employment creation in Ireland, offered Apple a secret, selective and illegal sweetheart tax arrangement (not once, but twice).
In a separate interview with the Irish Independent, Mr Cook branded Ms Vestager’s ruling “political crap”.
We may have followed our tax laws to the letter (or else get those Tribunal wheels in motion), but we also must have known that the “Head Office” to which billions in Apple Sales International’s profits were channelled through Ireland, was a Stateless entity.
“They just picked a number from I don’t know where”.
The Irish government will decide Friday whether to appeal a ruling from the European Commission that requires it to collect back taxes from Apple.
Tax avoidance has become a lightning rod as the presidential campaign has taken on a strong populist cast, and leading Republicans and Democrats in Congress have demanded that companies be forced to pay their fair share. He said the decision was “political crap”. “I have been concerned that it reflected an attempt to reach into the US tax base to tax income that ought to be taxed in the United States”, he said on Wednesday.
Though Ireland’s economy will tremendously benefit from over $14.5 billion received in taxes from Apple, it does not bode well for the company as it puts in stake the jobs generated.
Cook told the newspaper that bias against multinationals from the United States may have been a factor in the decision to impose the bill.
Earlier this week the EC said existing arrangements struck between Dublin and Apple broke European rules on state aid.
The U.S. Treasury has repeatedly pushed back hard against European Union state-aid probes, saying last week that the Brussels-based commission is taking on the role of a “supra-national tax authority” that has the scope to threaten global tax reform deals.
However, an emergency cabinet meeting of Ireland’s minority government on Wednesday failed to agree, with some ministers demanding a parliamentary vote on the issue.
The Government has no option but to appeal that decision.
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Cook told Irish news service RTE that Apple didn’t have any special tax rights in the Republic, even though his company was paying corporate tax of 0.005 percent, amounting to next to nothing.
