Joe Behan - Independent Councillor - Wicklow County Council

No Way Apple Will Pay
19th July 2017

One year on from the landmark ruling by the EU that we as a nation are owed €13 Billion by Apple Inc., we have yet to see one red cent. Compare this to the treatment of ordinary taxpayers who would feel the wrath of the state immediately if we owed a few Euros. There is no doubt that when you are big, rich and powerful you can swat away tax rulings which must be obeyed by the” little people” i.e. the ordinary tax compliant people of this country.

Incredibly, the Government cannot work out how to collect the money because it is such a large amount. (Ref. Sunday Business Post 16th July). In this excellent article, Ian Guider explains that €13 billion plus interest is a sum so large that the best brains in the Government can’t work out how to collect it. A suggestion might be that they ask Apple for a cheque in the sum of €20 Billion (Capital plus Interest) or if they prefer they could pay using that wonderful App – Apple Pay!

However, we all know Apple will never pay because the Government has told the EU we don’t want the money. Our rulers have joined with one of the largest and wealthiest corporations in the world in arguing that they should not pay tax on their enormous profits. It beggars belief that a Government which has failed to supply desperately needed housing , failed to provide adequate road and rail infrastructure throughout the country and who cannot seem to get to grips with the provision of high quality broadband to every home and business in Ireland refuses to accept a capital windfall of €20 billion.

We should not be surprised at how little this matter is discussed in the Dáil because most of the establishment parties have already bowed the knee to the Apple God and they don’t want us to have the money either. We urgently need our national public representatives to speak out and insist that at the very least this money is transferred to our coffers while any appeal is being considered. This would mean we could benefit from the investment of this huge sum in the meantime. Surely that would not be too much to expect?

Cllr. Joe Behan
Independent