Apple and Ireland vs the EU: Apple received �13bn in illegal tax benefits

[Raphael]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/08...eetheart_deal/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/08...ner_apple_tax/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/08...s_apples_cook/

[Jaecp]

Oh damn, I didn't know that was something the EU explicitly outlawed. I've wanted tax incentives to be illegal in the US for years! Companies just use it to make two states fight each other in a race to the bottom and that just hurts the average person. Good on the EU!

[Starlight]

The EU's pretty good about tightening up on tax fraud and evasion. For years now they've worked to gradually crack down on tax havens and tax evasion etc. They've done it very gradually, incrementally, and successfully, and IIRC they already have various additional policies in place that are to be phased in over the next 10 years. I'm somewhat optimistic that within 20 years or so, the EU will have managed to reduce global tax evasion to pretty much zero.

For example, New Zealand was revealed in the Panama papers to be a major international tax haven for foreigners to stash their money, and our current right-wing government has its head in the sand and our delightful PM has said (paraphrase) "well we conform to the minimum requirements of all trade agreements we've signed, what more could anyone require of us?" Fortunately the EU is a lot more enthusiastic about cracking down on tax havens than our incompetent government is, and the EU's approach to the NZ tax-haven problem has been "Here's our list of policy demands for how you're going to stop being a tax haven, NZ. Trade sanctions if you didn't meet those demands would be bad for you, right?"

[seer]

Another good reason to leave the EU....

[Sparko]

time to sell my apple stock?