DUBLIN/BRUSSELS, Sept 1 (Reuters) – Apple’s Chief Executive Tim Cook described an European Union ruling that it must pay a huge tax bill to Ireland as “total political crap”, but France joined Germany on Thursday in backing Brussels as transatlantic tensions grow.
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While the EC has deemed the agreements as illegal state aid, Apple and Ireland have repeatedly said the company “follows the law”.
“It’s maddening. It’s disappointing”.
“When you’re accused of doing something that is so foreign to your values, it brings out outrage in you”. Ireland’s Independent Alliance party says it is reviewing the decision and needs to consult with Noonan, tax officials, and independent experts.
However, according to The Irish Times, Vestager has refuted Cook’s claims that there was a political motive behind the ruling.
“They just picked a number from I don’t know where”, he said in the interview. EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said the arrangement allowed Apple to pay a tax rate of 0.005 percent.
Tim Cook told Irish state network RTE in an interview broadcast Thursday that repatriation should occur next year as profits from 2014 are repatriated. In a public letter to Apple customers on August 30, Cook wrote: “We are committed to Ireland and we plan to continue investing there, growing and serving our customers with the same level of passion and commitment”.
But in a separate radio interview he vowed to boost Apple’s tax payments by repatriating billions of dollars in global profits to the United States next year.
Apple was found to be holding over $181 billion in accumulated profits offshore, more than any USA company, in a study published a year ago by two left-leaning nonprofit groups, a policy critics say is created to avoid paying U.S taxes. “And I think that (anti-U.S. sentiment) is one reason why we could have been targeted”. The Commission has also ruled some European companies, including carmaker Fiat and Swedish engineer Atlas Copco AB, must pay tax claims worth over $350 million. Despite what’s going on, Cook says Apple will continue with its plan to expand in Cork, noting that the company is “very committed to Ireland”.
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“It’s sort of like playing a sports game, winning a championship and later finding out that the goals count differently than you thought they did”, Cook told RTE News. She said Apple’s sweetheart tax deal with Ireland constituted illegal state aid. The company opened its first factory there in 1980 and is breaking ground on an $800-million data center. “I’m convinced that would be crystal clear to anyone looking at this from an unbiased point of view”, Cook said on the radio.
