HOW APPLE HELPED CREATE IRELAND’S ECONOMIES, REAL AND FANTASTICAL
by Adam Davidson
“But, alongside this
“real” economy, Ireland developed a fantasy one, based on exploiting accidental
quirks in European and global markets. This helped fuel a local housing and
finance bubble that exploded, causing long-term pain. But both before the
financial bubble and afterward, Ireland’s primary global sales pitch was that
the country offered multinational firms a twofer: you can get your tax
avoidance and a qualified, English-speaking workforce all at the same time.”
Related:
European Commission ruling on Apple highlights the global
tax arbitrage game played by multinational enterprises:
“Apple runs its European operations from Ireland, which
has a 12.5 percent corporate tax rate. But its agreement with the Irish
government that allowed Apple to pay a tax rate of just 1 percent or even less
— .0005 percent, in some years — according to the European Commission, which
launched an investigation into Apple’s tax strategies in 2014.
Apple must now repay those taxes, the commission ruled.”