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The European Commission on Friday said it would appeal a court ruling that overturned its demand that Apple pay 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion) in tax to the Irish government (via CNBC).
"The Commission has decided to appeal before the European Court of Justice the General Court's judgment of July 2020 on the Apple State aid case in Ireland," Margrethe Vestager, the head of competition policy in the EU, said in a statement.
The EU's General Court in July sided with Apple, and said the EU's executive arm, led by antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager, had failed to show Ireland's tax arrangements with the company were illegal state aid.
Both Apple and Ireland appealed the original 2016 ruling, which stated that Apple owed the country over 13 billion euros in tax payments because the arrangements between the two countries were unfair.
In 2016, Apple CEO Tim Cook called the EC's original decision "total political crap" and said that Apple believed it would be reversed. "The decision is wrong, and it's not based on law or facts, it's based on politics. And I think it's very important that we stand up and say that very loudly," said Cook at the time.
The final decision will now be made by the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU), the highest court in the European Union.
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Top Rated Comments
There's a reason that most europeans actually quite like the EU: https://ec.europa.eu/commfrontoffice/publicopinion/archives/eb/eb49/eb49_report_en.pdf
Why? They earn way more than 13B$ long term, and makes them a corporate haven, which provides them with even more money, so it makes pretty good sense for them to be on Apples side.
Simple: Most people think that companies should pay their share of wealth to the societies they operate in, and not just channel them out of the country.
The average age of EU staff in 2018 was 48, which isn't really 'old slugs' by any means. And surprise, surprise, we do actually elect them.
I've been hearing this since 2016 and instead of getting better it's continuously getting worse. But I'm sure next year will be the year of the UK. Like it was supposed to be this year, and last year etc.
I certainly hope ya'll find it not OK that Apple paid only a few percent tax while everyone else pays a lot more than that -even in the same country. And like 20-25% in the rest of Europe and 35% (at least back then) in the US.
And, yes it's questionable to now ask that money from Apple that was agreed between Ireland and Apple, but it was also questionable from Ireland and not a safe trade for Apple to make that deal in first place.