Apple Appeals EU Tax Ruling, Says It Was a 'Convenient Target' (reuters.com)

Apple has launched a legal challenge to a record $14 billion EU tax demand, arguing that EU regulators ignored tax experts and corporate law and deliberately picked a method to maximize the penalty, senior executives said. From a report on Reuters: Apple's combative stand underlines its anger with the European Commission, which said on Aug. 30 the company's Irish tax deal was illegal state aid and ordered it to repay up to 13 billion euros ($13.8 billion) to Ireland, where Apple has its European headquarters. European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, a former Danish economy minister, said Apple's Irish tax bill implied a tax rate of 0.005 percent in 2014. General Counsel Bruce Sewell and Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri outlined in an interview with Reuters at Apple's global headquarters in Cupertino the company's plans for its appeal against the Commission's ruling at Europe's second highest court. The iPhone and iPad maker was singled out because of its success, Sewell said. "Apple is not an outlier in any sense that matters to the law. Apple is a convenient target because it generates lots of headlines. It allows the commissioner to become Dane of the year for 2016," he said, referring to the title accorded to Vestager by Danish newspaper Berlingske last month.

Comments

Re:If the EU is to be viable they need this

[butchersong]

I think you have some good points and I wanted to respond to each of your comments but it's lunch time so I'll pick the one you were a bit of a dick about ;) Just looking at point 1, do people really believe that if the EU did not exist today that Germany, France, Spain etc. would be invading its neighbors? If anything NATO and specifically American military might was the driving force for peace in the earlier part of the 20th century. The EU by contrast seems to be a source of constant turmoil.
Think about it. Which nation and under what circumstances would this first world European nation invade another and go up against the US? Few of them even have but a token military when compared to America.