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Ireland Will Bring the Fight Over Apple Taxes To the EU Court (digitaltrends.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Digital Trends: The tax debate between Apple, Ireland, and the European Union may escalate in the next few months. According to recent reports, the Irish Finance Minister, Michael Noonan, will bring the debate to the EU court, a move that could trigger a years-long court battle. The battle stems from a European Commission finding that Ireland had been giving Apple tax breaks, something that has attracted a number of multinational employers to Ireland. The EU, however, has ordered the practices to change. After a three-year probe into Ireland's relationship with Apple, the European Commission ordered Ireland to collect $14.5 billion in back taxes from the company. That is the largest state-aid payback demand in history. The decision has been the subject of criticism, particularly from this side of the Atlantic. The U.S. Treasury Department says the decision is a threat "to undermine foreign investment, the business climate in Europe, and the important spirit of economic partnership between the U.S. and the EU." Apple has also vowed to fight against the EU decision, and those appeals will follow the ones already pending in Luxembourg, where the EU is headquartered. Those pending appeals include cases against Starbucks.
No wonder all the shifty companies want to register in Ireland!
I though nations made laws, and not unelected bureaucrats. The EU is just a kinder, gentler Soviet Union.
an ill wind that blows no good
'this is a threat to the US collecting taxes on this revenue, it belongs to the US keep you're dirty hands off it!'
Basically the Irish Elites are the petty bourgeoisie of the globalist over-class. They provide Apple etc, with nigh 0% tax environment, and in return receive near San Francisco level salary levels in the city of Dublin, which by rights should have a wage level closer to Manchester.
This is about money, and the ruling class here will do anything to keep their hands on it. If Apple asked them to dig up Croke Park they'd probably do it.
With news like this, suddenly the Irish will be interested in their own Brexit.
When you're making a shady deal, make sure there is no higher authority than the person you're getting into bed with.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
FTA:
No it's not. Try Brussels in Belgium.
Hope the court nails the sweetheart deal between Apple and the Irish taxman.
It hasn't just cost the Irish but every other consumer in the EU who has bought iCrap. All the profits go back to Ireland where they're essentially not taxed but squirrelled away by Apple. Apple stockholders win but EU citizens get screwed.
The Machine stops.
If Ireland can't keep the scam, sorry, "tax model" rolling, the country is the next that's due for a Greek treatment.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
they say Apple and others are gaming the system when they don't pay taxes to the U.S. for all sales, but when EU says the same about EU sales, then the U.S. are literally saying that U.S. companies paying taxes in the EU for EU sales, is to undermine the EU business climate. Eh?
The EU treaty says "don't give favourable deals" and Ireland did just that: How are they going to argue the treaty doesn't apply?
Translation: How dare they ignore our "too big to jail" policy and actually hold US corporations accountable!
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...as it may set a major precedent regarding the sustainability of the EU.
Because, as we all should know by now, the crucial key to any long standing political enterprise is: who controls the MONEY.
Of course the corollary to money in a geopolitical context is...sovereignty.
Ireland, if it's actually a sovereign state, should be able to set its own tax policies. Now if it is in a voluntary agreement with the EU to deprecate it's otherwise-sovereign power for the good of the EU megastate, that's fine. But if it breaks the rules it agreed to, IT (and solely it) should be punished for that (ie paying a massive fine, whatever). How it then decides to recoup this penalty is up to it.
However, if the EU can say "Ireland, you broke the rules, you have to make THAT OTHER GUY PAY for your mistake" that essentially takes away any agency from the Irish government at all. They become little more than a tax-collection engine for Brussels.
I have to imagine that there remains some remaining sense of identity within European peoples, and that this - if the bureaucrats can't keep it carefully within the confines of the backroom - will spur a flare of quasi-nationalism that could shake the whole thing soundly.
Or, I'm totally wrong, millenial Euros are entirely adrift and amalgamated into the EU identity and things like "countries" in Europe will become little more than quaint names for administrative districts.
-Styopa
By that definition, Ireland is being an honest cop for Apple (and various other large corporate tax dodgers).
Why is Snark Required?
So do corporations, so does Apple Corp.: How about you complain about them? Nobody likes the system being rorted but that's not the issue under discussion.
Then you should've stayed in the USA, a country that demands kickbacks from other countries, gives corporations more rights than citizens and employees, has low taxes on capital asset profits, plus plenty of loopholes for/in their corporate tax laws.
Nobody wants to pay for you ...
Are you anti-socialism or pro "fuck you, I got mine"? It's nice to say corporations should pay the absolute minimum on everything but the reality is, corporations are the biggest consumer of roads, water, education and communication: They need to contribute to the cost of those government-subsidized services.
According to some, an honest politician is one who stays bought, even if someone makes a better offer afterwards.
By that definition, Ireland is being an honest politician.
FTFY