Jeroen Dijsselbloem, president of the eurozone’s finance ministers, has accused Apple of “[failing] to grasp” the public outcry concerning tax avoidance by multinational corporations.
He was referring to last week’s landmark decision, which handed Apple an enormous tax bill of 13 billion euros ($14.52 billion), based on its supposed underpayment of taxes in the Republic of Ireland. Apple paid a reported 0.005 percent tax on its European profits in 2014.
“The Apple response shows that they don’t grasp what’s going on in society and they do not grasp what’s going on in the public debate,” Dijsselbloem said during the Ambrosetti forum of business leaders in Italy. “This is a very strong moral issue and large companies, even if they’re this large, can’t say ‘this is not about us, there’s no problem here.’”
Interestingly, Dijsselbloem has previously clashed with the European Commission over his decision to offer a “sweetheart deal” to Starbucks in the Netherlands, where is finance minister. The case of Apple, however, is one he insist is different.
Since Apple was handed its tax bill, both Apple and the Irish government (despite being the country that would benefit from the windfall) have said they will appeal the decision.
In an interview concerning the case, Tim Cook — who has also written an open letter defending Apple’s position — said the demands for money amounted to “political crap,” and that anti-U.S. bias could be behind the E.C.’s decision.
Source: WSJ
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
3 responses to “Apple has ‘failed to grasp’ why people are upset about tax avoidance”
Apple has broken no laws and no business rightly pays more than is legally owed. I’m more than happy with Apple paying only what is owed and using the rest to invest in new products or pay shareholder dividends. This will benefit more people in more ways than filling bureaucratic coffers.
#TaxationISTheft
I’m not upset about it. Tax avoidance behavior is a known, legal and predictable phenomenon. I encourage it and I engage in it, as does everybody.
“This is a very strong moral issue” No, no it isn’t. It’s purely an accounting issue. Hearing the Continental elitists whine about not getting Apple’s money made me sick.