New Events

National

no events posted in last week

Blog Feeds

Anti-Empire

Anti-Empire

offsite link This Site Will Soon Be Hosted at anti-em... Sun Sep 22, 2024 17:24 | Anti-Empire

offsite link Ukraine Shoots Down F-16 With Patriot, A... Sat Aug 31, 2024 11:53 | Anti-Empire

offsite link Surprise Offensive Puts 300 km² of Russ... Fri Aug 09, 2024 08:44 | Marko Marjanović

offsite link The Wholesome Photo of the Month Thu May 09, 2024 11:01 | Anti-Empire

offsite link In 3 War Years Russia Will Have Spent $3... Thu May 09, 2024 02:17 | Anti-Empire

Anti-Empire >>

The Saker
A bird's eye view of the vineyard

offsite link Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz
Alternative site: https://thesaker.si/saker-a... Site was created using the downloads provided Regards Herb

offsite link The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker
Dear friends As I have previously announced, we are now “freezing” the blog.  We are also making archives of the blog available for free download in various formats (see below). 

offsite link What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker
by Mr. Allen for the Saker blog Over the last few years, we hear leaders from both Russia and China pronouncing that they have formed a relationship where there are

offsite link Moveable Feast Cafe 2023/02/27 ? Open Thread Mon Feb 27, 2023 19:00 | cafe-uploader
2023/02/27 19:00:02Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of

offsite link The stage is set for Hybrid World War III Mon Feb 27, 2023 15:50 | The Saker
Pepe Escobar for the Saker blog A powerful feeling rhythms your skin and drums up your soul as you?re immersed in a long walk under persistent snow flurries, pinpointed by

The Saker >>

Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

Public Inquiry >>

Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

Human Rights in Ireland >>

If Apple Paid Its Back Taxes, There Would Be No Need For Water Charges Or Property Taxes

category national | bin tax / household tax / water tax | press release author Wednesday September 23, 2015 23:31author by pbp Report this post to the editors

The European Commission has been investigating how Apple got away with paying a tax rate of just 2 percent on massive profits. It has concluded that the company benefited from an illegal deal with the Irish government. This judgement will be announced shortly.

Apple operated two subsidiaries in Ireland – Apple Operations International and Apple Sales International – and it funnelled billions of its global profits through these companies to avoid paying a €34 billion tax bill in the US. It was able to do this this because of a secret deal with the Irish government which cut its tax bill below the official 12.5% rate. The Irish government even allowed it to claim that it was ‘non-resident for tax purposes’.

Earlier this year, Apple warned its investors that it was likely to be hit by a big fine when the EU judgement came though.
It stated that “If the European Commission were to conclude against Ireland, it could require Ireland to recover from the company past taxes covering a period of up to 10 years reflective of the disallowed state aid, and such amount could be material.”

The Financial Times calculated that this could amount to about €2.5 billion.

Which begs the question: what should a cash strapped government that has been squeezing its own population dry do when such a windfall was possible? Grab it with both hands, you might think, and ease up on austerity.

Sure, it might have to admit that the Irish state was complicit in the scam and face a little ‘name and shame treatment’.
But what is a little humiliation compared to getting enough money to abolish the water taxes for decades or a combination of water charges and property taxes for a few years.

Yet, unbelievably, the Irish government is lobbying the EU Commission to stop Apple paying this fine. It wants to give them a little rap on the knuckles but not be forced to pay back taxes.

The Irish elite want to turn their country into a tax haven for the rich. They lash out at their own population to create enough fiscal space to allow large corporations get off lightly.

So when faced with the prospect of back taxes from Apple, they do everything to avoid taking the money. If ever there was a reason to overthrow this sick political establishment the scandal over Apple’s back taxes shows it.

Related Link: http://www.peoplebeforeprofit.ie/2015/09/if-apple-paid-its-back-taxes-there-would-be-no-need-for-water-charges-or-property-taxes/
© 2001-2024 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy