“The vote to withdraw from the European Union in the United Kingdom has shocked international markets and caused a sudden devaluation of the British Pound,” Mark Hibben writes for Seeking Alpha. “Despite short term headwinds, this may offer an opportunity for Apple. Apple can move its international headquarters from Ireland to the UK, and be assured of being out from under the thumb of EU regulation.”
“The short term effect of the vote appears to be mainly the sudden drop of the British Pound against the US dollar (and the Euro). This could have the effect of making Apple products more expensive in the UK and depress sales,” Hibben writes. “The longer term effects are open to debate. Reaction to the vote seems to depend on political philosophy. Those in favor of smaller government and less regulation hail the move as Britain freeing itself from the yoke of left-leaning Eureaucrats.”
“Britain could benefit from no longer having to comply with EU regulations on taxation and trade, making it a more desirable destination for multinational corporations such as Apple,” Hibben writes. “Britain’s withdrawal from the EU opens up all sorts of interesting possibilities. Britain has now in effect become a competitor to the EU rather than a member of it, and it can do things that it couldn’t do before to make itself more attractive to multinational corporations such as Apple.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Yes, with Brexit, all manner of interesting possibilities are now on the table and may even change the EU’s calculus in regard to their Apple tax probe verdict.
Once again, Apple 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
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