What Apple Can Learn From Starbucks on EU Taxes
Margrethe Vestager’s bid to get the Seattle coffee giant to pay its fair share of tax has suffered a setback. But Tim Cook shouldn’t be celebrating.
Snaring big fish.
Photographer: FRANCOIS WALSCHAERTS/AFPThe Luxembourg court decisions today on Starbucks Corp.’s antitrust tax case – which was a loss for the European Union -- and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV’s – which was a win – offer important clues to how a much bigger tax showdown between Brussels and Apple Inc. might play out. While there’s something for critics and defenders of the EU in Tuesday’s 50-50 split ruling, on closer inspection Apple probably has less to cheer about.
The EU’s top antitrust official Margrethe Vestager has snared some big corporate fish in recent years, slapping record fines on the likes of Google Inc. in the name of fair competition. But the real litmus test for some of her department’s most controversial rulings is Apple’s appeal of the EU’s decision in 2016 to impose a 13 billion euros ($14.3 billion) bill over its aggressively efficient Irish tax structure.