Ireland gave Apple tax breaks that were not theirs to give. Just as a worker can't give a break to an employer and work for less than minimum wage (even if they

Ireland gave Apple tax breaks that were not theirs to give. Just as a worker can't give a break to an employer and work for less than minimum wage (even if they want to, and even if they wrote the contract!). The ruling was effectively saying "Apple does actually owe those taxes to Ireland, even if they were willing to forgo them, since it is against EU rules for Ireland to give tax breaks of that nature." It actually is reasonably equivalent to a court declaring a company needs to give backpay to a worker to make their wages equivalent to minimum wage, even if the worker doesn't want the money.