Yes, the consumer technically pays the tax. However, Apple acts as the collector of the tax from the consumer, and is responsible for "passing it on" to the app

Yes, the consumer technically pays the tax. However, Apple acts as the collector of the tax from the consumer, and is responsible for "passing it on" to the appropriate tax authority. So, the reform the asked question: What tax authority does Apple report and pay the taxes to? And the answer is that the EU regulations state that VAT taxes are to be paid in the country in which the transaction takes place. If the transaction is online (and potentially therefore spanning multiple countries), the customer's location is used as the place of transaction.