Apple and Irish Government suffer major setback in €13B EU case

Re:Apple and Irish Government suffer major setback in €13B E... by johndunne on Thursday November 09, 2023 @10:10AM (#38205971)

I'm Irish and the ruling relates to the double-irish tax break specifically, it's about marketing for this tax evasion tactic. It's a hot topic in Ireland; Ireland looks like one of the richest countries on Earth (by GDP) but most Irish aren't feeling this. It's the huge amounts of money flowing through this double-irish loophole that creates the false GDP number. The loophole should end and paying the tax means closing the loophole.

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Irish_arrangement

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Re:Apple and Irish Government suffer major setback in €13B E... by istor on Thursday November 09, 2023 @10:28AM (#38206207)

I'm also Irish and you need to think of this more than just the GDP number. Tens of thousands of Irish people are working in the tech and pharma sector which is directly related to the tax status that companies have here. It's convenient for a company to have its "tax HQ" as well as a large physical presence in the country. It is allowing us to build our own sovereign wealth fund.

The Ireland of today is hugely better off than it was in the 80s and early 90s, and a good deal of that progress has been smart "marketing", as you call it, bringing in investment. Without this, the economy of Ireland would be closer to Greece or Portugal today.

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Re:Apple and Irish Government suffer major setback in €13B E... by NoboruWataya on Thursday November 09, 2023 @10:37AM (#38206345)

I would also add that Ireland's corporation tax receipts, particularly from MNCs, are very significant, so the benefits aren't imaginary in any sense. The government has largely squandered those benefits but that's a different matter.

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Re:Apple and Irish Government suffer major setback in €13B E... by johndunne on Thursday November 09, 2023 @10:56AM (#38206622)

Fair points, and I agree. However, I believe that the double-irish loophole is more of a 'value add' for the big companies already here, to lessen their tax load in other countries via 'convenient' accounting. The EU ruling is more about this tax evasive nature/use of the loophole than the investment in Ireland and it's economy & jobs.

Edit: The EU ruling actually targets a specific use of this loophole by Apple, which alleges amounts to state aid, hence the anti-trust comments. (Gotta love the HN community for delving into the details)

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Re:Apple and Irish Government suffer major setback in €13B E... by theironhammer on Thursday November 09, 2023 @11:24AM (#38207073)

Ireland funds it's pension scheme via the taxes it collects from Apple et al.

If those corporations leave then Ireland loses a lot of tax revenue.

Instead Ireland should tax property speculators.

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