Editorial Board
The EU's Apple Ruling Is a Victory for Tax Confusion
Forcing the company to pay up to $14.5 billion in back taxes creates more problems than it solves.
Apple's nemesis.
Photographer: John THYS/AFP/Getty ImagesThe European Commission’s decision to impose a tax bill of 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion) on Apple is unjust and unnecessary. And the harm is not confined to a single company: The ruling has cast a cloud of uncertainty over Europe’s corporate-tax rules, potentially affecting all multinational investors.
EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager says Ireland violated state-aid rules, which prohibit the selective support of particular companies. She may well be right. If so, the offenders are Ireland’s tax authorities, not Apple, which believed it was in compliance with the relevant national law.