Sir, – Why do some commentators see the European Commission's ruling in the Apple case as an attack on Ireland's low-tax regime? If Apple had paid tax on its profits at anything like Ireland's 12.5 per cent headline rate, and this had been ruled illegal, the decision could indeed be seen in that light. But the company paid at less than a hundredth of that rate.
No wonder the European Commission decided on an expemplary penalty. I hope that the European courts will uphold this attempt to shame the shameless, and that no tricks by courtroom wizards will make the billions vanish as if they were the pot of gold in a leprechaun economy. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL DRURY,
Brussels.
Sir, – I never thought that I would ever see People Before Profit and Apple in the same camp. One advocating the non-payment of a legitimate water bill and the other objecting to the payment of a legitimate tax bill. – Yours, etc,
DONAL KING,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin .
Sir, – I calculate that, laid end to end, 13 billion euro coins would measure over 304,000km. That’s equivalent to over seven times around the Earth’s circumference.
Is this also a measure of the lengths to which our Minister for Finance will go to to avoid laying his hands on this money? – Yours, etc,
GERRY SAVAGE,
Corrandulla,
Co Galway.
Sir, – An Apple a day keeps the taxman at bay. – Yours, etc,
FELIX M LARKIN,
Cabinteely,
Dublin 18.
Sir, – Accepting or rejecting the Apple tax money will have little bearing on coming employment challenges. Apple will invest only as long as it suits it. €13 billion, or a portion of that sum, however, has the potential to bring Irish services closer to acceptable civilised 21st-century standards. We should accept it.
As for facing employment problems, we refuse to even consider or discuss the impact of technology, despite a warning by the Bank of England that 15 million UK jobs are in peril from automation. Apart from inward investment, we operate a three-monkeys employment policy – hear nothing, see nothing, say nothing. It is a pity our Government does not challenge that.
The EU finding is the first serious challenge by a substantial political body to curb the power of an enormous corporate organisation. It is the first attempt to impose a reasonable tax, the lowest in Europe, on enormous profits facilitated by selling to a stable and civilised world. If the European Commission’s Apple ruling is overturned, it could have enormous implications for political establishments, rendering them unable to govern or tax.
Multinational giants exist in a sort of corporate feudalism, where all source of wealth is concentrated and society in general exists at the whim of the rich and powerful. As technology surges forward, political governance could regress to when barons ruled the castle and serfs served their every need. – Yours, etc,
PADRAIC NEARY,
Tubbercurry,
Co Sligo.
Sir, – From the “Island of Saints and Scholars” to the “ Island of Feints and Squalor ”. – Yours, etc,
EUGENE TANNAM,
Firhouse, Dublin 24.
Sir, – If, and it’s a pretty big if, Ireland actually receives that €13 billion (plus interest) in back taxes from Apple, may I suggest we put the astronomical fiscal windfall into a special rainy day fund? You never know, we might have to bail out the banks at some time in the future. Best to be prepared for such an eventuality. – Yours, etc,
PAUL DELANEY,
Dalkey, Co Dublin.
Sir, – Am I the only person to remember the days when we had two corporation tax rates, 36 per cent for most companies and 10 per cent for manufacturers and exporters? My recollection is that this was harmonised at 12.5 per cent in order to stave off action by the EU, which viewed this as favouring one type of enterprise over another. This is precisely the ruling that has been made against Apple.
The idea that Irish jobs will suffer if Apple pays up does not stand up to scrutiny. The “double Irish” is going in any case. This €13 billion tax bill will be written off in one go by Apple and the losers are its shareholders. The amount is paltry in the context of group profits.
Apple did nothing wrong. It is the job of company management to minimise its tax bill. It is our tax system which is at fault; it denied not only us but many other countries, including the US, a reasonable tax take from Apple’s operations. At 12.5 per cent, the ongoing rate of corporation tax remains very attractive.
This judgment may impact US investment in the EU as a whole, but Ireland remains relatively attractive.
While it is true that the EU is envious of the success of the big US multinationals, this ruling has nothing to do with this. It is a scandal that our leaders are trying to deny us a windfall that could fix another genuine scandal in our society.
Let’s try to get our hands on the money as soon as possible and at least build homes for our homeless. – Yours, etc,
SARA MacARTHUR,
Portmarnock,
Co Dublin.
A chara, – Minister for Finance Michael Noonan wishes to appeal the decision of the European Commission regarding Apple to the European Court of Justice.
As this country is, like Ireland, a tax haven, with many international companies operating here for no reason other than that it is very beneficial when it comes to taxes, there will be many in Luxembourg anxious to know how the Irish Government’s case will be decided. Some companies with their European headquarters situated only a kilometre from the court will dread that they will be next on the European Commission’s list of targets. Ireland’s apples will leave a very bitter taste in the mouths of many here. – Is mise,
SEANÁN Ó COISTÍN,
Lingten, Luxembourg.
Sir, – I would now hope that the “love-in” that Ireland has with the EU may now be somewhat “clouded” over the Apple tax controversy. How clever the UK was in getting out of the bureaucratic dictatorship that is the EU. For a long time I have thought that Ireland would be better served joining an alliance with Britain and Norway to form a western alliance group of countries for trading purposes and autonomy. The EU has eroded our sovereignty and we are fast becoming part of a federal state. – Yours, etc,
BARBARA O’HANRAHAN,
Sligo.
Sir, – Noel Whelan writes that "It is difficult to understate the popular impact of that big €13 billion figure" ("Turning our back on ¤13 billion would be politically explosive", Opinion & Analysis, September 2nd).
€13,000,000,000 is certainly mind-boggling.
Outside Dublin, it is difficult to overstate its impact. – Yours, etc,
Dr JOHN DOHERTY,
Gaoth Dobhair,
Co Dhún na nGall.
Sir, – I’m writing this to you on my Apple computer, which cost me €1,100, approximately two weeks of wages. As a PAYE worker on a rate of 20 per cent, I paid €220 in tax before I had enough to pay Apple. If Apple made a 20 per cent profit on the sale, then based on their corporate tax rate of 0.005 per cent, their tax bill to the State came to one cent. – Yours, etc,
UNA ROE,
Bray, Co Wicklow.
Sir, – Three cheers for Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s competition commissioner. Indeed, 13 billion cheers!
As your leading article today ("Defending the indefensible", September 1st) so eloquently states, this is the reality of globalisation and its fiscal consequences. Or as Karlin Lillington summarises it, "It's all one big game in which politicians don't really want to change things all that much. Otherwise they would" ("Apple's ¤13 billion Irish tax bill does not contain seeds of change", Business Opinion, September 1st),
For over 50 years, globalisation of commerce has grown, supported by global banks in an era of no exchange controls over cross-border currency transfers. National governments have adopted policies and fiscal practices as if the practices of multinationals did not exist. If a US-headquartered multinational develops technology (either telecommunications or pharmaceutical) and has the product manufactured in China and then shipped to Australia or Italy under instructions from an Irish subsidiary, where is the profit earned? If one assumes the answer to be Ireland but the Irish company then pays a licence royalty to a zero-taxed fellow subsidiary in Bermuda, there will be minimal profits left in Ireland on which our 12.5 per cent corporation tax can be levied. Politicians in all countries have avoided facing the consequences of the globalisation reality.
So along comes the European Commission – a supra-national organisation – to try to knock some sense into local politicians, their ministers for finance and their revenue-collecting departments, and for that I say “three cheers”.
We have created a tax regime in Ireland which aids and abets multinationals to avoid paying corporation taxes. Witness too the tax-avoidance practices of special-purpose companies being set up to buy Irish property at distressed prices and then pay zero tax on the resulting profits. Remember too the payment of tax-free preference share dividends to executives in companies both Irish and multinational and the payment offshore of part of the salaries of executives of multinational companies, and the payment of contrived royalties to executives on inventions or technology.
The chickens are coming home to roost. – Yours, etc,
DAVID McCABE,
Blackrock, Co Dublin.
Sir, – Our corporate tax takings for the next two years will be more than the sum supposedly owed by Apple and we may jeopardise thousands of jobs. Surely that is leprechaun economics? – Yours, etc,
CLARE STOREY,
Glencar,
Co Sligo.
Sir, – The European Commission, an independent, objective and impartial body and guardian of the EU treaties, has issued a decision to the effect that Apple owes billions of euro to the Irish tax authorities. Apple says, naturally, that it is going to appeal this ruling. The Irish Government says, even though the ruling means it will benefit to the tune of some €13 billion, that it also will appeal!
Despite the serious issues involved, the obfuscation and endless legalistic hair-splitting that will characterise this debate, it will not be possible to explain this paradox to the ordinary punter and will result in the inevitable electoral consequences.
Why not just stand aside and let Apple appeal and have the best of both worlds? – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN O’DONNELL,
Glenageary,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – It’s great to see the Independent Alliance wrestling with its conscience and winning. Who needs Labour? – Yours, etc,
PATRICIA O’RIORDAN,
Dublin 8.
Sir, – It seems that the Independent Alliance must resort to “independent advice” in order to formulate a coherent policy position on the issue of the EU decision on Apple’s tax. Leaving aside the fact that the Independent Alliance’s answer to everything is either independent advice or an independent inquiry, my question is this: who pays for this “advice”? – Yours, etc,
JOHN McNAMARA,
Cork.