In the UK, IMHO, Apple is not the main target. Those are Google and Amazon.
Apple pays a significant amount of VAT, Business Rates and National Insurance (Employers Contribution) to the UK Treasury. Google issues Invoices from Dublin and claims that they do no selling of adverts in the UK and Amazon... well the less said about channelling everything via cough, cough licenses to Luxembourg the better.
The same goes for Starbucks and McDonalds.
Apple doesn't pay VAT. VAT is a consumer tax that companies collect on behalf of the state.
Yes, but Apple primarily makes products and services that people buy and on which VATs are paid. Amazon, Google and Facebook do not (mostly) produce tangible products that are actually sold to consumers so therefore no VATs are collected.
Right, and isn't that exactly what this is all about, hence this new tax is aimed at Google and FaceBook et alia, not Apple?
iTunes for Europe "operates" out of Luxembourg, though I daresay you won't find many staff working there.
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