“Apple Inc., facing a European Union probe into its fiscal affairs in Ireland, told a panel of EU lawmakers Tuesday it pays all taxes due in the nation and doesn’t get an unfair advantage compared with other companies there,” Stephanie Bodoni reports for Bloomberg.
“Cathy Kearney, a vice-president of the iPhone maker’s European operations in Cork, Ireland, said the company isn’t getting unfair state aid but will remain ‘committed to Ireland” whatever the outcome of the EU case,” Bodoni reports. “‘We feel that we’ve paid every cent of tax that is due in Ireland,’ Kearney said at the European Parliament in Brussels. ‘We don’t feel that there has been state aid involved and I suppose we look forward to that outcome happening at the end of the day and being vindicated in that way. I would say that the Irish government also agrees with that view.'”
Bodoni reports, “Apple’s tax affairs in Ireland and Amazon.com Inc.’s arrangements in Luxembourg are slated to be next in the firing line as the European Commission takes aim at so-called tax rulings it says may be unfair subsidies.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple has been perfectly consistent on this matter throughout this witch hunt.
There was no special deal that we cut with Ireland. We simply followed the laws in the country over the 35 years that we have been in Ireland. If the question is, was there ever a ‘quid pro quo’ that we were trying to strike with the Irish government – that was never the case. We’ve always been very transparent with the Irish government that we wanted to be a good corporate citizen… If countries change the tax laws, we will abide by the new laws and we will pay taxes according to those laws. – Apple CFO Luca Maestri, September 2014
SEE ALSO:
Think Ireland’s corporate tax is unfair? Wave goodbye to Apple and thousands of jobs if it’s changed – November 14, 2015
Apple announces 1,000 new jobs in Ireland as EU tax ruling nears – November 11, 2015
Apple tax probe won’t hurt Ireland, Finance Minister Noonan says – October 5, 2015
EU’s Vestager says will not complete tax inquiries of Apple, others in second quarter – May 5, 2015
Apple warns of potential ‘material’ financial damage from European tax probe – April 29, 2015
Apple may have to pay Ireland 10 years of back taxes – April 30, 2015
Ireland’s Prime Minister: Apple has nothing to fear from end of ‘Double Irish’ tax avoidance strategy – November 4, 2014
Apple says it may lose Irish tax break – October 31, 2014
Ireland to end tax lures that drew U.S. firms – October 14, 2014
EU tax probe spotlights Ireland’s allure for multinationals – October 13, 2014
EU watchdog to give reasons for inquiry into Ireland’s tax treatment of Apple – September 29, 2014
European Commission accuses Apple of prospering from illegal Irish tax deals – September 28, 2014
EU threatens expanded probe into Ireland’s tax practices regarding Apple, Googles, other companies – June 20, 2014
EU’s investigation of Apple’s taxes isn’t going to cause the company any problems – June 13, 2014
EU launches tax avoidance investigations on Apple, Starbucks, Fiat – June 11, 2014
Not in Taxes anymore: On site at Apple’s famous Irish ‘headquarters’ – November 2, 2013
Regan: U.S. tax code spurs loveless foreign corporate ‘marriages’ – May 13, 2014
Ireland to close Apple’s tax loophole, but leave bigger one open – October 15, 2013
G20 think tank OECD proposes blueprint for global crackdown on tax avoidance – July 19, 2013
Thomas Sowell on Apple, corporate taxes, and ‘the road to serfdom’ – May 28, 2013
Taxing Apple just taxes you – May 24, 2013
Don’t tax Apple, tax its shareholders – May 24, 2013
If Apple paid more tax, we might pay less or something – May 22, 2013
Apple CEO Tim Cook pounds another nail into the Keynesian coffin – May 22, 2013
Apple CEO Cook makes no apology for company’s tax strategy – May 22, 2013
I suppose the EU has intimated to Apple that they’ll sweep the “state aid” investigation under the rug if Apple just gives them the iOS source code before the feds get it.
as politicians all around the world they would “get to Apple and hammer it on TAXES” right after their lunch break at the five star hotel with lobster appetizers and fine wine…
where I live if you people actually read the yearly auditors report you will be shocked where your taxes go : furniture for politicians homes, 3 legislators lunch bill of almost $2000 etc., billion dollar contracts to their cousins which is $650m more than the closest other bid …
You have proof of this?
I read what i wrote from memory but I found the stuff below from an auditors report ( I now live in Canada):
–Former Regina mayor Pat Fiacco expensed more than $4,000 worth of tickets to sporting events, including $1,055 for Montreal Alouettes season’s tickets, nearly 3,000 km away. The tickets were the result of a bet Fiacco made with former Montreal mayor Gérald Tremblay
–am Katz, mayor of Winnipeg, is a big fan of the Blue Bombers, but apparently not enough to pay for tickets out of his own pocket. The mayor billed taxpayers $2,033 for a pair of season’s tickets
–Ontario’s Municipal Property Assessment Corp. spent $170,000 on a one-day team-building event that included an exercise playing with Lego.
–Nova Scotia’s provincial government handed $24 million to the owner of the Bowater Mersey paper mill in return for a swath of company land in the hopes of staving off its closure. By June the mill had gone out of business.
–Taxpayers spent $2.2 million flying MPs’ spouses and $554,000 flying their children around the country last year, according to the most recent annual MP expense report.
— During her tenure as international co-operation minister, when she was responsible for the Canadian International Development Agency, or CIDA, Ms. Oda made headlines for lavish spending while travelling on government business. She was forced to repay taxpayers for $1,000 a day in limousine expenses, a pricey stay at London’s Savoy Hotel in 2011 and for a $16 glass of orange juice.
ENOUGH?
As i found out the above from just a few minutes I have a few more minutes:
— “Taxpayers fronted $47,000 for a 2010 Tory press conference during which then-Defence Minister Peter MacKay posed for a “hero shot” in a fake F-35 fighter jet built
— In 2012, Agriculture Canada gave $826,000 to Cardinal Meat Specialists Ltd. in Brampton, Ont. to help produce “a higher quality sausage that is more resistant to splitting or bursting while cooking.”
– 2013, Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) spent nearly $14,000 on a survey that asked Canadians whether superheroes could fly, leap over skyscrapers, see through walls, become invisible and hear whispers from miles away.
–CITY OF CALGARY’S WASTE STATION “POOP PALACE”
The City of Calgary spent an extra $246,000 on a project to embed LED lights on its new Forest Lawn Lift Station that change color depending on how fast the station is pumping waste water.
—
oh just searching ‘Canada’ I even go some EU commission hits:
“British EU foreign minister, came under fire when it was reported that she had demanded her own private jet less than 100 days into her new role in March last year.”
the telegraph:
“The Commission also ran up a bill of more than €300,000 (£263,511) for lavish cocktail parties, including an event in Amsterdam costing €75,000, which was described as “a night filled with wonder like no other”.”
Before people think I ‘m beating up on Canada, the country ranks in the TOP 10% of most HONEST governments worldwide.
http://www.transparency.org/cpi2015
Think about those at the bottom….
just because I have time, here more EU Commission ‘fun facts’:
(I think my lobster cocktail example is too conservative.. )
Daily Mail:
“European chiefs have landed taxpayers with a ‘grotesque’ expenses bill running into millions of pounds that highlights once again the culture of excess in Brussels.
Private jets, luxury hotels, cocktail parties and even Tiffany jewellery were among the items claimed. MPs last night called for an inquiry following the release of astonishing details of commissioners’ lavish lifestyles.
In one case Jose Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, ran up a £24,600 hotel bill during a luxury four-day stay in New York.
The figures reveal that the EU’s 27 commissioners clocked up a £6.6million bill for hiring private jets in the four years to 2010.
With extra expenses, the bill for their high life comes to £6.99million – but the sum is likely to be far higher.
Britain’s commissioners during the period were Peter Mandelson and Baroness Ashton. In 2009 alone, the Commission billed taxpayers £265,000 for cocktail parties.
.”
the guardian
” Barroso (head of EU commission) and 35 others spent €28,000 at the luxury Peninsula New York hotel during the visit to the UN climate change convention.
n additional €20,000 was spent on gifts for commission guest speakers since 2008, including cufflinks, fountain pens and Tiffany jewellery.
ArchiveEurope:
”
— European Parliament’s records show that in 2009 the EP awarded Biribin Limousines a contract worth €5.25m for transporting MEPs around Strasbourg ”
— 5.1 million for ‘Culture Club’ for EU officers…
—
According to its financial records, the European Parliament spent €36,860 on “protocol presents” such as “textiles, ties and scarves” in 200950. The gifts were bought from Nazareno Gabrielli – an Italian designer company specialising in luxury leather goods.
etc.
OF COURSE THAT JUST THE TIP , MOST ARE HIDDEN UNDER CONFIDENTIAL:
“€381m was spent on “confidential” activities, which the commission refuses to disclose for security reasons. The degree of confidential spending in 2009 was more than double its 2007 level, at €221m.”
ENJOY.
—-
(sigh, people pick fights with me and don’t do research)
Time to respect Apple, the only model corporate citizen anywhere.
The globalists are coming! The globalists are coming!
So, how many times more will Apple have to say this same thing over again before the EU figures out that they’re NOT going to screw Apple out of $millions of Euros?
I get the sense that this EU attack on Apple is going to fade away into a haze of boredom.
I want Apple to remain in Ireland. I was born in County Cork, where they employ many natives, a cousin or two included. I have thought of retiring there and imagined a new career, warmly greeting visitors to an Apple Store in Cork, exchanging a bit of local gossip before showcasing the latest marvels. Perhaps I could become a genius, helping people heal their Macs. Funny, Mac is more Scottish than Irish. Happy people know no cultural boundaries, though. Unhappy people are the cause of them.
Ah, howz Herself!? I was born in Down.
Up Down!
On Thursday, many people will be marking St Patrick’s day with a pint of Guinness. Those who know their stuff opt for Cork’s far superior brew, Murphy’s.
The EU is a division of Microsoft Corp.