Irish throw fruity protest against Apple tax breaks

Dozens of apples have been placed outside the headquarters of Fine Gael party in Dublin following the Apple Tax scandal. The Commission has determined that tax deals between Apple and the Republic of Ireland as far back as 1991 violated the tax laws of the European Union, of which Ireland is a member state.

Fears are growing that the ruling, which requires Ireland to claw back €13 billion euro in back taxes from the US Multinational, could undermine Ireland’s corporate tax regime.

Ireland’s finance minister says he doesn’t want the cash – but unlike Michael Noonan, GlobalCapital is never one to punch a gift horse in the mouth when it comes to easy funding.

We pay all the taxes we owe – every single dollar.

“No one did anything wrong here and we need to stand together”.

He said: “I think it’s clear that there is a desire to harmonise tax rates the European Union”. This means any extra European tax the company pays would cut what it pays in the U.S. This has sparked concern at the U.S. Treasury Department about missing out on tax revenue and has raised expectations for U.S. tax reform.

“Since the US has been very slow to enact reform and get revenue, the status quo has allowed the Europeans the opportunity to move in and get tax money for their governments”, says Kimberly Clausing, an worldwide tax expert at Reed College.

Some Irish voters are astounded that the government might turn down a tax windfall that would be enough to fund the country’s health service for a year, and this appears to be complicating the cabinet decision whether to fight the ruling.

The European Commission has ordered Ireland to claw back £11billion of back taxes, plus interest.

Nonetheless, people involved in competition law in Europe, many of whom declined to speak on the record for this story, reckon the Commission may choose a company closer to home for any major new inquiry. However, the commission said Apple had received “illegal tax benefits” from Ireland that allowed it to pay far less tax than other businesses.

“If this had been the old Government, this would have just been railroaded through”, he pointed out.However, he said the Independent Alliance was not going to bring down the Government on the issue.

Meanwhile the European Commissioner behind the ruling has rejected claims it was a “political” decision. “And anybody looking at that says that is a ruse, that is an attempt at tax avoidance, tax evasion, whatever you want to call it”, the 73-year-old US economist said.

Apple holds almost $215 billion in cash and securities outside the USA, much of that generated by its Irish subsidiaries.