This was in response to Tim Cook’s comments on the tax being politically motivated. “This is a decision based on the facts of the case”, she said.
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“When you’re accused of doing something so foreign to your values it brings out an outrage in you”, he said.
But the Irish Independent, who has spoken to Mr Cook, says he is confident his appeal against the ruling will be successful. Margrethe Vestager, the European Commissioner in charge of competition policy said Apple’s tax deal had “enabled it to pay substantially less tax than other businesses over many years”.
Cook told the Irish Independent that the Commission’s ruling would not deter Apple’s Irish expansion. It may not be illegal to pick Ireland to act as the base for your European headquarters but it can become an issue when Ireland decides to hand out tax benefits to a certain enterprise specifically like they did with Apple.
Although, the usual rate of cooperation tax in Ireland is 12.5 per cent, the company paid tax at 0.005 per cent in 2014.
Apple will appeal and Cook believes Ireland will do the same in the interests of protecting future inward investment.
Vestager had said Apple’s tax rate on its profits was only 0.05 percent in 2011 and 0.005 percent in 2014.
One former US senator, Carl Levin, who oversaw congressional investigations of corporate tax avoidance schemes, said both Apple and the USA tax agency, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), were ultimately to blame for the loss of revenue to the United States. However, despite previously insisting that Ireland’s government would similarly challenge the commission’s ruling in the courts, an agreement to do so wasn’t made by the Irish cabinet during a special meeting convened on Wednesday.
He also said that the Cupertino, San Francisco-based company will “go forward” with an expansion in Cork, Ireland. “It is a European matter and a matter for state aid rules”. That refers to the combined US federal and state tax rate Apple would likely owe.
Already the EU is planning to give every resident a European Taxpayer Identification Number, is a move signalling plans to seize taxation powers.
“Apple has more subsidiaries in Ireland, as indicated in the Commission’s decision to open an investigation”.
Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan said he profoundly disagreed with the decision.
Cook said he would fight closely with Ireland to overturn the ruling, which he said had “no basis in law or in fact”.
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She also defended earlier statements on Apple’s low tax rate.
