Apple chief Tim Cook on Thursday, September 1, slammed a European Commission ruling demanding the U.S. tech behemoth pay Ireland €13 billion in back-taxes as “political crap”, urging the Irish government to launch an appeal.
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“We provisioned several billion dollars for the USA for payment for as soon as we repatriate it, and right now I would forecast that repatriation to occur next year”, Cook said in an interview with Irish broadcaster RTE news. The commission said the deal allowed Apple to pay a maximum tax rate of just 1%.
Cook took the same line, telling the Irish Independent he believed the commission’s move arose from “a desire to reallocate taxes that should be paid in the U.S.to the European Union”.
The £11billion (€13bn) bill issued to Apple by the European Commission for “illegal” tax breaks in Ireland proves the need for tax harmonisation, according to an article in Spanish newspaper El Mundo. “There should be a public discussion about it”.
Cook responded to that by pointing out that on a global basis, the company had paid a tax rate of 26.1 percent. “Political crap” is what the Apple Inc.
“We pay the Irish corporate tax rate of 12.5%, we paid $400 million tax in Ireland in 2014”, he said.
Cook says Apple will continue expansion plans in Ireland as usual, including breaking ground on a new data center very soon, despite the overhanging tax quagmire. “Ireland is being picked on, and this is unacceptable”, he said in the interview published Thursday.
The tech giant faces the record bill after the European Commission (EC) ruled that a special scheme to route profits through Ireland was illegal state aid.
In any case, the EU Commission keeps considering the sweetheart tax ruling between Apple and Ireland as State aid. He claimed Ireland was being “picked on” and that he hoped to see the Irish government launch an appeal against the ruling.
That is just £50 in taxes on every £1m of profit.
Apple has said it will appeal the European Union ruling, and expects to win.
Speaking before a meeting of the Irish cabinet on Wednesday to discuss the ruling, Prime Minister Enda Kenny told reporters: “Obviously this is unprecedented so we’re going to have a good discussion about it this morning”.
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Asked whether Ireland was still an attractive location for its European base, Cook said: “It has not been diminished one iota”.
