3 ms·

Am I reading the story correctly? Apple was given government permission to structure their business a certain way so they would not owe certain taxes, and now t

Am I reading the story correctly? Apple was given government permission to structure their business a certain way so they would not owe certain taxes, and now the government has changed its mind and wants to rule that they owe more than a decade in back taxes? I'm all for mega corporations paying fines for breaking the law, but this seems like overreach. A government shouldn't punish someone for doing something that that they only did because the government said they could.

thegiogi 3y ago
That was my initial reaction. Then i thought about what would happen if it was an individual in a similar situation, say you are the subject of an error in your favour from a bank. I don’t know but it is not obvious.
anonymousDan 3y ago
Close, but there's slightly more to it that. In this case the government that gave Apple permission was Ireland, but the issue is whether by doing so the Irish government is in violation of an EU treaty that EU countries can't offer subsidies to companies selectively (typically to avoid them subsidising companies from their own country at the expense of companies from other EU countries). The tricky bit is that control over taxation is not included in any EU treaty (i.e. it remains a national competence and countries are free to set their own taxation policy, which is perfectly reasonable). This case hinges on the question as to whether the tax break given to Apple was also available to other companies (which would be fine), or whether they were given some kind of special treatment. The reason Ireland is fighting the case is that in the long term they (and many other EU countries) do not want to cede any power to the EU regarding tax policy, either directly as part of a new EU taxation treaty or via the backdoor through court cases such as this.

3 ms·

Am I reading the story correctly? Apple was given government permission to structure their business a certain way so they would not owe certain taxes, and now t

by wavemode 3y ago

thegiogi 3y ago
That was my initial reaction. Then i thought about what would happen if it was an individual in a similar situation, say you are the subject of an error in your favour from a bank. I don’t know but it is not obvious.
anonymousDan 3y ago
Close, but there's slightly more to it that. In this case the government that gave Apple permission was Ireland, but the issue is whether by doing so the Irish government is in violation of an EU treaty that EU countries can't offer subsidies to companies selectively (typically to avoid them subsidising companies from their own country at the expense of companies from other EU countries). The tricky bit is that control over taxation is not included in any EU treaty (i.e. it remains a national competence and countries are free to set their own taxation policy, which is perfectly reasonable). This case hinges on the question as to whether the tax break given to Apple was also available to other companies (which would be fine), or whether they were given some kind of special treatment. The reason Ireland is fighting the case is that in the long term they (and many other EU countries) do not want to cede any power to the EU regarding tax policy, either directly as part of a new EU taxation treaty or via the backdoor through court cases such as this.