Apple CEO Tim Cook on EU Apple Tax Case: 'Total Political Crap' (arstechnica.com)

Earlier this week, Apple was ordered to pay a record sum of 13 billion euros plus interest after the EU said Ireland illegally slashed the iPhone make's tax bill. At the time, Tim Cook found the accusations "baseless." In a new interview, he had more things to say:A war of words has erupted between Europe's competition chief and Apple CEO Tim Cook after Ireland was ordered to reclaim $14.5 billion in back taxes from the company. Cook, in an interview with the Irish Independent, labelled Brussels' competition chief Margrethe Vestager's decision as "total political crap." He claimed Ireland was being "picked on" and that he hoped to see the Irish government launch an appeal against the ruling. Vestager refuted that claim when quizzed by reporters on Thursday. "This is a decision based on the facts of the case. The figures that we used in our decision are the figures that we got from Apple themselves," she said. "There are very, very few figures in the public domain. More transparency would be a good thing, for example, a country by country reporting. If it was up to me, the non-confidential version of the decision would have been published yesterday, because that is another way of enabling everyone to see what we have decided and on what basis we have made this decision. Right now the ball is in the hands of Apple and Ireland."

Comments

Re:Put up or shut up

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree they should pay, but actually it doesn't matter if Apple has obeyed the law, because this case is not about Apple's compliance with law. It's about Apple _and_ Ireland.

Ireland could have given Apple a sweetheart deal that was better than any other Irish business was offered, and that could be (dubiously) seen to be in compliance with the Irish tax code (see for example how much Google had to repay in the UK; far less than they should have). Apple could be paying Ireland all that Ireland asked for (which is, apparently, sweet Fanny Adams).

The point here is that the EU is punishing _Ireland_ for giving Apple that deal, and requiring Ireland to make Apple pay back taxes.

Why? Because what Ireland did in making this offer is deemed to be unfair competition in Europe -- among other states. In essence, the EU is meant to be a level playing field, and Ireland gave Apple a truly tiny tax bill in a way that distorts fairness within the EU.

So it's political but it is not crap; it's about Ireland meeting their obligations to the EU.

Ireland should claim the money, Apple should pay.

It's a tiny amount of money compared to what Apple makes, and if they are so concerned about fairness, they should take their money home to the USA. But oh no, they want a tax holiday. Which totally explains the deal they struck with Ireland; they are waiting for a tax holiday in the USA and don't want to pay any taxes elsewhere.

CAPTCHA: clubroom. (I swear there's a sarcastic AI at work)

Cry me a river

[JonnyCalcutta]

It is illegal in the EU to provide state aid to entice companies to setup in one country over another. It has been this way since EU year dot, to create a level playing field. It is pretty much the point of the EU. If you don't like it, don't join the EU.

If Apple funnel all their EU profits through Ireland without paying tax in the country of sale, but only pay tax on sales made in Ireland (because Ireland conveniently ignore the rest), then that is state aid. Ireland know this. If Apple didn't know this they should sack their lawyers.

All the rest is PR and bluster.

Re:Cry me a river

[Richard_at_work]

The other problem with Apples position is that they didnt just follow Irish tax law, they negotiated with the Irish government over their tax affairs - they are completely complicit in this.

Re:Oh yeah? Then what are you gonna do about it?

[Ungrounded Lightning]

A better analogy would be the US retroactively eliminating deductions (standard or itemized) retroactively and asking you for back taxes and interest.

The US already did something like that, several times:

* In August 1993, President Clinton signed a law raising tax rates on high-income earners and estates. The new rates applied back to the beginning of 1993, and although disgruntled taxpayers went to federal court seeking to have the retroactive application of the rules invalidated, those arguments proved fruitless.

* In 1987, Congress passed laws retroactively repealing an estate-tax provision, a repeal which cost one taxpayer $2.5 million. The Supreme Court ruled that taxpayers have no right to rely on tax legislation being permanent, with the majority arguing that as long as lawmakers act with "a legitimate legislative purpose," retroactive application is constitutional. Even though one Supreme Court justice argued that the government had used "bait and switch taxation," he nevertheless concurred with the unanimous holding of the Court.

* A 1976 tax-law change affected homeowners' ability to shelter capital gains from the sale of a home from taxation. One homeowner took advantage of rules that allowed half of all gains to be free of tax, but six months later, President Ford signed a law retroactively limiting the taxable amount. Just as it did more than a decade later, the Supreme Court upheld the law as being constitutional.

Taxes are not theft

[sjbe]

- the law is theft and the entire system is built around that theft.

Oh fuck off with that stupid argument. Tax is not theft and never was. The argument doesn't stand up to the most cursory scrutiny. The very fact that you have roads and an education and healthcare and police protection and the internet and first responders and clean water and postal service and safe drugs and military protection and plenty more is because of taxes. Without a civil society and people paying taxes to fund things we all benefit from none of that stuff exists. The fact that you can post your witless argument is because of those taxes you are so bent out of shape over.

AFAIC Apple shouldn't pay a cent and instead hire a private army to go after every single politician involved in this racketeering and I mean to go with full force of every shady tool available to people when that sort of money is involved, up to and including blackmail, kidnapping, extermination and regime change.

Either you are a troll or a raving lunatic with no concept of reality. I hope it's the former but I'm pretty sure it's the later.