“To remind herself that she will always upset someone with her rulings, Margrethe Vestager keeps a ceramic hand with a raised middle finger on her desk,” Christian Oliver, Tim Bradshaw, and Barney Jopson report for The Financial Times. “It was sent to her by an angry trade union during her time as economy minister of Denmark.”
“Since she became the EU’s competition enforcer in late 2014, those irate adversaries have only become more powerful,” Oliver, Bradshaw, and Jopson report. “She is now facing a showdown with the world’s richest company and most powerful government.”
“On January 21, Apple’s chief executive, Tim Cook, made a personal appeal to Ms Vestager in Brussels. His aim was to deflect her from issuing a ruling against the technology company’s tax arrangements in Ireland, suspected of saving the company billions in international tax payments. If Apple is found to have benefited from a sweetheart deal, in contravention of EU competition rules, it could have to pay back billions of euros of underpaid tax to Dublin,” Oliver, Bradshaw, and Jopson report. “According to those briefed on the meeting, it was a heated, testy encounter.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple simply followed the law when paying their taxes:
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
SEE ALSO:
EU’s Vestager says will not complete tax inquiries of Apple, others in second quarter – May 5, 2015
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Apple and Google stand by Europe tax deals; Rupert Murdoch weighs in – January 27, 2016
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Apple CEO Cook lobbies EU antitrust chief over Irish back taxes – January 21, 2016
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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
EU’s plans to tackle corporate tax avoidance hits first roadblocks — February 12, 2015
Ireland’s Prime Minister: Apple has nothing to fear from end of ‘Double Irish’ tax avoidance strategy – November 4, 2014