EU to Ireland and Apple: $14.5 billion, pleaseThe European Union says Ireland needs to recover $14.5 billion in taxes from Apple.
Update: Apple's CEO, Tim Cook, has posted "A Message to the Apple Community in Europe" on apple.com/ie. Here's the crux of the counter-argument, in Cook's usual cut-to-the-chase style:
The European Commission has launched an effort to rewrite Apple's history in Europe, ignore Ireland's tax laws and upend the international tax system in the process. The opinion issued on August 30th alleges that Ireland gave Apple a special deal on our taxes. This claim has no basis in fact or in law. We never asked for, nor did we receive, any special deals. We now find ourselves in the unusual position of being ordered to retroactively pay additional taxes to a government that says we don't owe them any more than we've already paid.
The Commission's move is unprecedented and it has serious, wide-reaching implications. It is effectively proposing to replace Irish tax laws with a view of what the Commission t...
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EU to Ireland and Apple: $14.5 billion, please
