EU Competition Chief on Apple Tax Probe: 'Don't Hold Your Breath'

[macs4nw]

Europe talks tough but its economy is not in great shape, and its politics are not that stable. Chasing away American companies will not help either.

It has the appearance of a cheap tax grab, emboldened by public anti big-business sentiments.

 

[neutralguy]

More tax just means more cost to the consumer.... tax them nothing tbh.

Apple has been paying next to nothing on taxes. Yet their products seem to be on very expensive side.

 

[69650]

The sooner we leave this pointless waste of money the better. Bring on the Brexit vote.

 

[KALLT]

The sooner we leave this pointless waste of money the better. Bring on the Brexit vote.

Your government does the exact same thing. Worse even, it let Google off the hook, in spite of Google having generated more than £7 billion in profits, of which they only paid £200 million in taxes. At least the EU Commission is showing some initiative by doing what the EU governments ought to have done themselves. Tax evasion would not have been a problem if governments would have done the right thing from the start.

 

[snipper]

Old Europe is litigating against Starbucks? Interesting, considering the thousands of Starbucks stores appearing all across the EU.

I couldn't find recent numbers but in 2008 there were about 1.500 Starbucks in Europe. It's not like they are on every street corner like in the US where there are over 11.000. In the Netherlands, where 17 million people live, there are only a few dozen and half of them are in Amsterdam.

In the Starbucks case, different Starbucks offices in different EU countries payed unrealistically high prices for services (roasting) and goods (beans) that they sold each other. That way, it seemed like they hardly made any profit, thus didn't have to pay any income taxes.

The EU found out, Starbucks got a fine and the Dutch tax authorities a lecture.

Now I know this is an Apple fan site so the highlight is on 'Apple gets a fine from the EU' but for example Italian car maker Fiat got a same kind of fine. It's really not anything anti-US, it's about tax evasion and - at least in the Starbucks case - even fraud. Starbucks created a fraud, willingly took the risk and then got caught. If I mess up I get the same treatment. Why should multinationals have lower taxes?

 

[FieldingMellish]

A decision in the European Commission's probe of Apple's tax affairs in Ireland may not be reached soon, according to EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager (via Bloomberg).Apple is one of several multinational corporations, alongside Amazon, McDonald's, Starbucks, and others, that have been targeted for possible corporate tax avoidance in Europe. Brussels launched the probe in June 2014, and it formally accused the iPhone maker of receiving illegal state aid from Ireland three months later.

If Apple's $64.1 billion in profits generated from 2004 to 2012 are subjected to a 12.5% tax rate, compared to its current foreign tax rate of about 1.8%, the company could owe more than $8 billion in back taxes. Apple continues to deny any wrongdoing, and vows to appeal any decision that goes against the company.

Apple operates multiple subsidiaries in Ireland to pay significantly less tax outside of the U.S., where it earns up to 60% of its revenue. A decision in the tax probe was originally expected in late 2015, but the European Commission's request for additional information has pushed the investigation into 2016.

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Article Link: EU Competition Chief on Apple Tax Probe: 'Don't Hold Your Breath'

How else do you become one of the largest companies in the world ? Hold onto more money, including taxes.

 

[xbjllb]

Chickens.... roost.

Hey, 8 billion in back taxes sure beats guillotines, doesn't it?

Even in a figurative sense.

Like Der Trump says, everything is negotiable.

 

[69650]

Your government does the exact same thing. Worse even, it let Google off the hook, in spite of Google having generated more than £7 billion in profits, of which they only paid £200 million in taxes. At least the EU Commission is showing some initiative by doing what the EU governments ought to have done themselves. Tax evasion would not have been a problem if governments would have done the right thing from the start.

I agree with you. UK politicians are just as useless as EU politicians. As far as I'm concerned the fewer politicians we have in the world the better.

 

[snipper]

At least the EU Commission is showing some initiative by doing what the EU governments ought to have done themselves. Tax evasion would not have been a problem if governments would have done the right thing from the start.

Certainly. I will be most positively surprised if they can really pull it off though. For some reason the EU members usually only work together when the calf has drowned. The always make the same mistakes. Germany and France, maybe even the UK first make up their minds and then the others basically don't have much choice. The northern and western countries always have to pay for the southern and eastern. etc.

Most Europeans don't want more power to the EU, they want to keep their Dutch, Flemish, British, etc. roots.

 

[Melab]

Europe is enfeebled and unable the compete on the global stage. Hence, legal action against innovative, ground-breaking American corporations.

Europe's strong competition law is one of their positives.