KitGuru KitGuru.net – Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards
Earlier this morning, we learned that the European Union had wrapped up its three-year long investigation into Apple's tax payment strategy in Ireland, concluding that Apple should still pay around 13 billion euros in taxes for earnings made between 2003 and 2014. This is obviously quite big news and it didn't take long for Apple CEO, Tim Cook, to respond, claiming that the ruling is “an effort to rewrite Apple’s history in Europe” and “ignore Ireland's tax laws”.
Tim Cook penned an open letter on the main Apple website today, firing back at claims that Apple gets a special deal on taxes in Ireland, stating that such claims have “no basis in fact or in law”. Not only is the Irish government said to be planning to appeal this ruling, but Apple will also be doing the same.
Image source: Sigalakos on Flickr
“The Commission’s move is unprecedented and it has serious, wide-reaching implications. It is effectively proposing to replace Irish tax laws with a view of what the Commission thinks the law should have been. This would strike a devastating blow to the sovereignty of EU member states over their own tax matters, and to the principle of certainty of law in Europe. Ireland has said they plan to appeal the Commission’s ruling and Apple will do the same. We are confident that the Commission’s order will be reversed.”
If the ruling does end up sticking though, then Cook ended his letter with a warning that it would have a “harmful effect” on “investment and job creation in Europe” going forward. You can read the whole letter, HERE.
Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.
KitGuru Says: It seems that this case isn't quite over yet and with multiple appeals on the way, it could be a while before we get a final resolution. What do you guys think of the EU's ruling this morning?
It’s not stating what tax laws should be, it’s saying what they should not be: give special deals to big companies, that other companies don’t have access to. In other words, promoting unfair competition and impeding free market trade.
And Cook’s threats are as empty as Apple’s tax statements. Apple’s investments in the EU are negligible, limited only to the few thousand jobs that they create in Ireland. This in no way compares to the billions they make in sales.
He probably knows that as well, but as CEO he has to take the tough guy stance because investors see “13 billion owed” and panic. This is just PR control.
Personally I think they should pay at least a large portion of what is due… that 0.05% tax is simply disgusting.
So the EU is pretty much saying they can change how Ireland does business or enforce their own laws. If this an agreement between Apple & Ireland then F off EU go look for your cash cow some where else. This is the same sh*t they used to do to Microsoft to pad their pockets by making MS cough up money for the dumdest sh*t. They seem to like harassing the big American corps. This coming from the guy who hates Apple in every way but I hate the EU’s tactics even more when it comes to them extorting money like this. Where does this money even go I am sure it does not go to actually helping the business they claim to be standing up for. If I am wrong about that then I will be wrong I guess but it seems to be a cash grab when looking at it from the outside from another country.
The only good decision the eu court has ever made
The dumbest shit? Since when is abusing a monopoly position and thereby excluding any chance of competition the dumbest shit. Consumers benefit from a free market and competition, Apple and Microsoft undermine that and are punished. The only difference is that Apple cooperated with a government, that doesn’t make it okay.
When the UK makes a big American company cough up taxes nobody seems to mjnd, now that the Eu is doing it, it’s a cash cow and extortion.
The Eu trying to enforce a fair playing field on the European market is one of the few useful things it does. Countries competing on who has the lowest taxes benefits only stockholders and CEOs.
And if you want to know what the Eu budget is used for: http://ec.europa.eu/budget/mycountry/index_en.cfm
No, what the EU is saying is that Ireland, which normally has a corporation tax of ~12.5% (very low compared to other countries), was allowing Apple through various loop holes and shady dealings to pay 1% (from 1991-2013 and 0.005% from then on I believe) on all income generated across Europe.
This gave Apple an unfair advantage in regards it competitors (I find this bit hilarious given that Apple products are already overpriced for what they are) which is against antitrust laws that Ireland agreed to when it joined the European Union.
There are similar cases being reviewed across the EU and probably a couple more in Ireland
What? A set of un-elected officials* that are anti-corporation and want to turn the EU into a sovereign nation would want to over rule the sovereignty of the member states when it comes to corporations? How shocking!
See, this is why Brexit was a great idea.
* The European Parliament is really a set of figureheads, the real power lies with the European Commission.