Ireland's Sinn Fein party says it will pursue Apple if company owes back taxes

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2016
Ireland's left-leaning Sinn Fein party could hold Apple accountable for taxes owed following a still-ongoing European Commission investigation, according to a party finance spokesman.




The current Irish Prime Minister, Enda Kenny, belongs to the more centrist Fine Gael party, and has promised to fight a Commission ruling if it determines that Ireland extended illegal state aid to Apple.

"It's ridiculous in the extreme for the government to say no matter what the commission find, no matter how stark the evidence may be, that they're going to appeal this," the Sinn Fein spokesman, Pearse Doherty, said to Bloomberg. "This would be tax that would be due from a company that is more wealthy than the entire Irish state."

Doherty insisted however that Sinn Fein has no intentions of raising Ireland's 12.5 percent corporate tax rate, and doesn't want to make any moves that could scare potential investors away from the country.

National elections could take place as soon as next month. While polls suggest that no party will gain a majority, Sinn Fein is poised to double its support to 19 percent. The European Commission isn't expected to issue a ruling until at least March, which could mean an altered political landscape.

Bloomberg Intelligence recently estimated that Apple could owe up to $8 billion in taxes for the years 2004 through 2012. By funneling money through Irish subsidiaries and exploiting loopholes, Apple may have been paying as little as 1.8 percent on many billions in international revenue. The Irish government is only now working to amend its tax system.

The European Commission has already made rulings against Fiat and Starbucks for their tax deals with Luxembourg and the Netherlands, and said that 35 multinational corporations received illegal help from Belgium.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has repeatedly insisted that his company follows the law and pays everything it owes, but this has done little to assuage criticism from politicians at home and abroad.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 56
    mjtomlinmjtomlin Posts: 2,689member
    Why doesn't the EU just come out and ask Apple to bail out all their bankrupt countries instead of wasting time with all this, "We screwed up our tax laws, now YOU must pay for it!" ?
    jbdragonlatifbp
  • Reply 2 of 56
    "This would be tax that would be due from a company that is more wealthy than the entire Irish state."
    And there you have it. Typical politician looking for something for (relatively) nothing.
    jbdragonlatifbp
  • Reply 3 of 56
    brakkenbrakken Posts: 687member
    Gosh. They're all coming outta woodwork now 
    Apple can never get a break. 
    If any of the ppl who give Apple shite but use an Apple product - or any product that copies, emulates or steals from Apple - need to be 'persued'. 
  • Reply 4 of 56
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,298member
    I agree with the concept of taxing companies and people to support the operation of a government but why should Apple provide an excessive amount of support? I assume people are already paying some kind of tax on purchases. How many times should any product be taxed? 
    jbdragon
  • Reply 5 of 56
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    So, earlier this week, Apple's Ireland HQ was evacuated due to a bomb threat, and now the IRA's political wing threatens to 'pursue' Apple for back taxes. 

    Mmmmm. 
    latifbpjfc1138icoco3
  • Reply 6 of 56
    jdgazjdgaz Posts: 407member
    All taxes are in the end paid by the consumer in the cost of goods.
    jbdragon
  • Reply 7 of 56
    Patriot Games
  • Reply 8 of 56
    rob53 said:
    I agree with the concept of taxing companies and people to support the operation of a government but why should Apple provide an excessive amount of support? I assume people are already paying some kind of tax on purchases. How many times should any product be taxed? 
    If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate and tax it again. If it stops moving, tax other things to subsidize it. 
    spanadingtdknox
  • Reply 9 of 56
    lwiolwio Posts: 110member
    If Apple owe taxes just like any other company they should pay them. No need to single out Apple though there's Amazon, Google, Starbucks ......
  • Reply 10 of 56
    mjtomlin said:
    Why doesn't the EU just come out and ask Apple to bail out all their bankrupt countries instead of wasting time with all this, "We screwed up our tax laws, now YOU must pay for it!" ?
    Because they'd have to admit their system is a failure, and that's the last thing they want to do. 
  • Reply 11 of 56
    Once again more people who do not understand what is going on.
    IF and only IF the sweetheart deal Apple which gives Apple a tax lower than the normal corporation tax level had with Ireland is found to be illegal Apple then has to pay back the tax it is then classed  as having avoided back to Ireland (from 2004) as it would otherwise be illegal state aid.

    SF is just posturing for votes before the election as IF the EU commission rules against Ireland and any appeal fails, it would be irrelevant what any political party says they have to comply.
    gwydionbradipaospheric
  • Reply 12 of 56
    sirozhasirozha Posts: 801member
    So, now the terrorists are going to try to extort money from Apple. 
    icoco3
  • Reply 13 of 56
    latifbplatifbp Posts: 544member
    "This would be tax that would be due from a company that is more wealthy than the entire Irish state."
    And there you have it. Typical politician looking for something for (relatively) nothing.
    Politicians:Apple::Golom:Ring
  • Reply 14 of 56
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,298member
    Once again more people who do not understand what is going on.
    IF and only IF the sweetheart deal Apple which gives Apple a tax lower than the normal corporation tax level had with Ireland is found to be illegal Apple then has to pay back the tax it is then classed  as having avoided back to Ireland (from 2004) as it would otherwise be illegal state aid.

    SF is just posturing for votes before the election as IF the EU commission rules against Ireland and any appeal fails, it would be irrelevant what any political party says they have to comply.
    True, however, Ireland has said all along Apple is not doing anything wrong. It's the EU that's saying they are. I find it difficult to understand why sovereign countries gave up their sovereignty, allowing a centralized group the ability to dictate how every country operates. I guess there's no reason to call Ireland a country since it's now simply another member state of this politico-economic union (wikipedia). So much for Ireland trying to be separate from the UK or just about any other country in Europe (noticed Switzerland isn't part of the EU) having its independence from the others. Now they're as screwed up as the states in the US. 
    latifbp
  • Reply 15 of 56
    gwydiongwydion Posts: 1,083member
    mjtomlin said:
    Why doesn't the EU just come out and ask Apple to bail out all their bankrupt countries instead of wasting time with all this, "We screwed up our tax laws, now YOU must pay for it!" ?

    Because it has nothing to do with tax laws but with allegedly ilegal state aids
    singularityronn
  • Reply 16 of 56
    Reading some of these comments I would have to believe that most wouldn't want to see additional taxes levied on the wealthy or businesses in the US just because they happen to have more and work within the rules and the existing laws. Why should they pay more just because of a flawed system? I happen to agree that if a business or individual is operating within the confines of the law they should be left alone and not be specifically targeted with special laws and taxes. In short, fix the system. I'm just a little surprised because over the last few year the "in thing" has been to attack the successful and make them pay "their fair share".
  • Reply 17 of 56
    cnocbuicnocbui Posts: 3,613member
    jdgaz said:
    All taxes are in the end paid by the consumer in the cost of goods.
    No they aren't.

    However, all taxes that multinational corporations dodge are eventually made up for by increases in taxes and charges levied on consumers.
    edited January 2016 larryasingularityronn
  • Reply 18 of 56
    genovellegenovelle Posts: 1,481member
    Reading some of these comments I would have to believe that most wouldn't want to see additional taxes levied on the wealthy or businesses in the US just because they happen to have more and work within the rules and the existing laws. Why should they pay more just because of a flawed system? I happen to agree that if a business or individual is operating within the confines of the law they should be left alone and not be specifically targeted with special laws and taxes. In short, fix the system. I'm just a little surprised because over the last few year the "in thing" has been to attack the successful and make them pay "their fair share".
    I'm ok with making the successful pay their fair share, just not retroactively. Sometimes it requires special laws or taxes to correct the broken system that current laws couldn't anticipate their ability to get around them. 

    tdknox
  • Reply 19 of 56
    larryalarrya Posts: 608member
    rob53 said:
    Once again more people who do not understand what is going on.
    IF and only IF the sweetheart deal Apple which gives Apple a tax lower than the normal corporation tax level had with Ireland is found to be illegal Apple then has to pay back the tax it is then classed  as having avoided back to Ireland (from 2004) as it would otherwise be illegal state aid.

    SF is just posturing for votes before the election as IF the EU commission rules against Ireland and any appeal fails, it would be irrelevant what any political party says they have to comply.
    True, however, Ireland has said all along Apple is not doing anything wrong. It's the EU that's saying they are. I find it difficult to understand why sovereign countries gave up their sovereignty, allowing a centralized group the ability to dictate how every country operates. I guess there's no reason to call Ireland a country since it's now simply another member state of this politico-economic union (wikipedia). So much for Ireland trying to be separate from the UK or just about any other country in Europe (noticed Switzerland isn't part of the EU) having its independence from the others. Now they're as screwed up as the states in the US. 
    Tax policy can create subsidies that are illegal even under some US trade agreements. 
  • Reply 20 of 56
    mjtomlin said:
    Why doesn't the EU just come out and ask Apple to bail out all their bankrupt countries instead of wasting time with all this, "We screwed up our tax laws, now YOU must pay for it!" ?
    Or Apple could just BUY Ireland, fire all of the politicians and secede frim the EU. Could be cheaper in the long run.
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