“‘We are committed.’ That was the message Apple chief executive Tim Cook wanted to hammer home when he visited Ireland this week,” Ciara O’Brien reports for The Irish Times. “That may well come as either no surprise or a welcome relief to Apple’s 6,000 employees in Ireland, depending on how optimistic they are about the company.”
O’Brien reports, “Apple has been in Ireland since 1980, but with the recent loss of a €850 million data centre in Athenry, Co Galway, still fresh in people’s minds, plus the €13 billion tax judgment from the EU, you would forgive people for thinking the relationship may have taken a downward turn.”
“Yet, according to Cook, Apple is still as committed to the country as it has ever been,” O’Brien reports. [Cook said], ‘Honestly speaking, we didn’t come to Ireland for tax. We came to Ireland in 1980 because we saw a community we thought we could grow, and could do a number of things to support the continent. We’ve stayed on course on that over almost four decades. It hasn’t been a straight line – life isn’t a straight line, things go up and down – but it’s always been in a trajectory that is increasing. I don’t anticipate that changing.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: There are only two kinds of people in the world, the Irish and those who wish they were. ☘️
SEE ALSO:
Apple pulls plug on plans for Athenry data center – May 10, 2018
EU says Ireland’s Apple complaint will only be dropped if it takes the full $16 billion in tax clawbacks – February 27, 2018
One, Galway Co, is Galway Co., and Cork is Cork. A datacentre and the European HQ for Apple are two completely separate entities.
Two, the EU tax judgement has not yet been settled, and there’s a chance it will be reduced or overturned.
So Cook knows why Apple came to Ireland in 1980? I seriously doubt it, but lately he has been honing his politics…
Oh, you doubt it. Well, that’s that, then.
But… I seriously believe it. It would make sense for a CEO to know the history of the company he is running.
Touchy again today fanboy, fine.
What he knows he has been told 38 years later by others. People come and go and memories fade after a few years. Ask any trial lawyer.
My MAIN point you obviously missed, Tim was NOT there at the time and was not speaking from FIRST PERSON experience. That said, his only option was to play the hand he was dealt. His political response proved as much, to use a food analogy was empty calories …
GoeB
Not related to this topic.. just responding to another post u made.. i cant respond there .. i guess MDN limits the number of replies per post.
You mentioned Golden Eye ending ..
Ha ha ..
I was not aware of that at all…
Yo’ Jimboy or Jimbo …?
Lol.. 🤣
My screen id is actually based on Yojimbo.. a Japanese ronin/samurai character from an early sixties Japanese movie by the same name directed by Kurosawa. .
And i added on the 007 ..
It was funny to actually hear it in a Bond movie!
Lol
Thanks 😉
👍🏻😎
Understand the Asian connection., thanks
“Jack Wade is a fictional CIA officer who helps James Bond investigate the Janus Syndicate in the 1995 film GoldenEye. He also makes a brief appearance in 1997 film Tomorrow Never Dies and is played by American actor Joe Don Baker.”
Yo, Jimbo! …
GoeB, another liberal turde like that John Dingler, Fartist, who should eff the uck off
For now the 13th time, the litigation concerning Apple’s Irish taxes is not an “EU tax grab.” If Apple wins, it keeps the money with Ireland’s blessings and the EU gets nothing. If Apple loses, Ireland gets the money and the EU still gets nothing. They brought the suit to obtain a judicial determination that Ireland violated its European treaty obligations. Ireland is defending to prove that it did follow the law. This is about establishing a judicial precedent, not about grabbing Apple’s money. Ireland doesn’t want it and the EU can’t get it.
what you are not saying is when this deal was struck and whether the eu existed when Apple moved in 1980 the precedent the eu is trying to set is to force Irish to grab apple’s money the eu gets it in the end because Ireland is a member but if 100% of it stays in eu Ireland what’s the difference besides splitting hairs?
The EU most certainty existed in 1980 as the ECC, with Ireland already in as a charter member. The EEC became the EU.
with the same laws and taxing authority? either way this is a forced eu money grab from apple no matter the country where the settlement goes in the bank correct to say Irish oppose this lawsuit?
Yeah, yeah, but Maastrict didn’t come into being until 1993. That’s the EU most everyone is referring to, in its current incarnation, the monetary union. That’s the moment that is relevant to this discussion about taxation, as that’s when all the member countries had to meet specific economic requirements for membership.
What is now the EU began as the European Coal and Steel Community in 1952. Already then, it had a basic principle of banning the member nations from subsidizing individual companies at the expense of others, because that would support international economic conflict of the sort that led to both world wars. This isn’t primarily an issue about taxation as such but about using tax exemptions as a covert subsidy. Ireland and Apple deny that has happened, but the European Commission (the EU executive branch) disagrees.
The organization became the European Economic Community in 1957, with treaties embodying the same obligation. Ireland joined in 1973 and signed all the relevant treaties (as it has every one since, because the EU mostly operates by unanimous consent).
The 1992 treaty (signed by Ireland) that changed the name to the European Union and created the Eurozone did not change the no-subsidy obligation. Neither did the 2009 treaty that created the current organizational structure.
“What’s the difference?” The difference is that if the EU were to get the $15B, it must spend it equitably on behalf of all 28 member states and their people. That really would be a cash grab, but it isn’t supported by any existing law or treaty. The EU can’t change the law after the fact, because it obviously wouldn’t get unanimous consent (Ireland would vote against).
As it is, if Ireland gets the $15B (which still isn’t certain), it will keep it; the EU administration and the 27 other countries will get zip. It is exactly like the difference between the Government of Texas getting $15B and an individual Texan getting the money (there being no state income tax, just as there is no EU income tax). That’s a pretty big difference.
Isn’t the intent of the law to prevent member states for competing over individual companies? They can tax whatever they want, but uniformly.
Exactly. The dispute is over whether the Apple deal passes that test. If it does, Apple keeps the money. If it fails, Ireland will be obliged to collect the taxes it should properly have assessed. In neither case does the EU government or any of the 27 other members get to “grab” a dime. I hope Apple wins, but none of us on this thread gets to decide. That’s what courts are for.
“In neither case does the EU government or any of the 27 other members get to “grab” a dime.”
pretty sure of yourself we shall see
I don’t see what entitles the other member states to any of that money, unless it’s punitive to Ireland for breaking the law. It seem reasonable to “force” Ireland to keep the money.
Au contraire!
Well there’s a chasm of difference since you simply have no clue how the EU’s harmonizing of regulations works…have you?
Exactly as TxUser says, the money goes to Eire and Eire alone.
Ditto for the umpteenth time.
sigh
On this one, we shall see. Once the money is in the hands of Ireland, then the EU can proceed to tax and fine Ireland. The money in Ireland’s hand is much closer than it is in Apple’s.
my point exactly eu brought the suit and an eu country will deposit the money and who knows where it goes
The money’s not really in Apple’s hands, because any back taxes paid by Apple to Ireland, will be a CREDIT on taxes paid to the US Treasury. Remember that $38B in repatriation taxes that Apple announced that they were going to pay to the US Treasury? Just reduce that figure by whatever amount Appe pays to Ireland’s Treasury.
Frankly, Apple can claim its the victim, because Ireland made a tax deal the had no right to make. Under EU law they can tax any rate they want, but it has to be for all companies.