From Tim Cook’s Message to the Apple Community in Europe:
Thirty-six years ago, long before introducing iPhone, iPod or even the Mac, Steve Jobs established Apple’s first operations in Europe. At the time, the company knew that in order to serve customers in Europe, it would need a base there. So, in October 1980, Apple opened a factory in Cork, Ireland with 60 employees.
At the time, Cork was suffering from high unemployment and extremely low economic investment. But Apple’s leaders saw a community rich with talent, and one they believed could accommodate growth if the company was fortunate enough to succeed.
We have operated continuously in Cork ever since, even through periods of uncertainty about our own business, and today we employ nearly 6,000 people across Ireland.
Apple has been in Cork since 4 years before the very first Mac was introduced. They’ve been in Cork through thick and thin. No possible argument there.
And:
Over the years, we received guidance from Irish tax authorities on how to comply correctly with Irish tax law — the same kind of guidance available to any company doing business there. In Ireland and in every country where we operate, Apple follows the law and we pay all the taxes we owe.
And:
The European Commission has launched an effort to rewrite Apple’s history in Europe, ignore Ireland’s tax laws and upend the international tax system in the process. The opinion issued on August 30th alleges that Ireland gave Apple a special deal on our taxes. This claim has no basis in fact or in law. We never asked for, nor did we receive, any special deals. We now find ourselves in the unusual position of being ordered to retroactively pay additional taxes to a government that says we don’t owe them any more than we’ve already paid.
And:
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.
This is the essence of Apple’s argument. These are just a few excerpts from a much longer letter. Definitely worth a read.
“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…”
And people wonder why we had Brexit.
Remarkable. Just like our own Congress.
Change the effing tax code, or find your revenue without trying to shake down high-profile targets.
Nobody who’s been paying attention to the people pushing the hardest for Brexit has much difficulty wondering why it happened.
But… but… racism!
It sounds like that is what the EU commission is trying to do – and retroactively … because, reasons.
And, true to the Brexit campaign rhetoric, hate crimes in the UK have indeed risen. Glad that doesn’t directly affect you.
A lot of people think that you should rather pay your taxes where you make your profit – not where you create it. IE – pay Australian taxes on profits you make in Australia.
If you want to be a good global citizen, it’s only fair to contribute to the economies of the countries you make your profits in.
Damn straight. Apple, and Tim Cook in particular, blither on about all the good things they do (which, fair enough, they do do good things) while simultaneously effectively stealing the rightful taxes from the many countries they operate in. So those same “good things” are essentially funded by money that would be paying for schools and hospitals in Australia, and in other countries far worse off than Australia. It is time for people and corporations to stop using every damn loop hole and just pay their fair share.
This could end up a giant mess that goes way beyond Apple. It could have a profound effect on EU member businesses operating within the U.S. U.S. Code Title 26’s (aka the Internal Revenue Code) Section 891 allows, if U.S. Companies are facing discriminatory or extraterritorial taxes, The treasury if directed by the President to double the effective tax rate up to 80% of all businesses and citizens of that country until discriminatory policy is no longer in effect.
Section 891 was being studied after Starbucks and Amazon. There are a lot of EU companies doing lucrative business in the United States.