
Apple should repay Ireland €13B, European Commission rules - blowski
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37220799
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myTmonkey
My small business has to pay 47% income taxes. Why should Apple get away with
paying 0.0002% taxes?

No need to discuss this. Rules should of course be the same for all businesses
in the EU.

13B Euro is nothing. They saved multiples of this amount by using practices
only known from the Mafia.

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throwaway2016a
I would argue that your business shouldn't be paying the 47% not that Apple
should pay more.

Like the other poster said, they had an agreement with Ireland and I think it
sets a bad precedence when agreements between a government and another entity
are not honored.

Also, where are you that you are paying 47%? That can't possibly be the
effective rate can it?

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gonvaled
Apple should pay what is due, not what you or Apple think is fair.

The core of the issue is that the EC has deemed the tax rate applied by
Ireland to Apple is in conflict with the Agreements that Ireland has with the
EU, and that has been so for a long time. The agreements that Ireland has have
to be, in these matters, according to EU rules - as Ireland has accepted when
joining the EU. That is the point of the EU: a set of rules that your partners
will impose on you whenever you try to abuse them, exactly as you will impose
those rules whenever they try to abuse you. It's a legal framework for
collaboration, which OF COURSE means sometimes you will be forced to do things
you would rather not to.

After the ruling, the EU is requesting repayments of the taxes not paid since
the investigation started. Is not retroactive legislation.

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throwaway2016a
I agree that they should pay what's due. Absolutely. Although I think in this
case that is very murky because of the agreement they have with Ireland.

I think the only fair thing to do in this situation is to tax apple going
forward but to not punish Apple for assuming that an agreement with Ireland
was valid. That one is on the Irish government not Apple.

I was simply replying to the parent post saying "My small business has to"
since if there is going to be an emotional argument I think it should be in
the other direction. "I shouldn't have to pay either" vs "They should pay what
I pay"

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davidiach
I might be wrong, but it seems to me that there is a "economic war" between
the US and the EU, in the sense that each of them constantly forces companies
from the other side to pay billions in fines for various things.

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llukas
Apple is paying taxes in US? Interesting...

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georgenetu
Are there any big companies that still pay taxes in US? Interesting...

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BenoitP
Previous discussion here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12385232](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12385232)

