Treasury Secretary Lew Criticizes EU Decision to Issue Apple $14.5 Billion Tax Bill
01 September 2016 - 12:53AM
Dow Jones News
By Ian Talley
WASHINGTON -- U. S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew took the
European Union to task Wednesday for its decision to levy a $14.5
billion tax bill on tech firm Apple Inc. on Tuesday, saying the
move amounted to a swipe at the U.S. tax base.
"It reflects an attempt to reach into the U.S. tax base to tax
income that ought to be taxed in the United States," Mr. Lew
said.
The EU's antitrust regulator demanded Ireland recoup what the
commission claims are unpaid taxes accumulated over a decade by
Apple, escalating growing tensions between Brussels and Washington
over the bloc's tax treatment of U.S. companies.
"The pattern of the actions appears to be highly focused on U.S.
firms," Mr. Lew said at a Brookings Institution event. "They point
to some smaller actions on non-U. S. firms, but the largest actions
do appear to be aimed squarely at our tax base."
The secretary said untaxed profits such as those accumulated by
Apple are clearly a problem policy makers must tackle. The world's
largest economies have agreed to work together to fight the erosion
of the tax base through corporate offshoring of profits, and U.S.
lawmakers have labored for years, unsuccessfully thus far, to craft
a bipartisan tax overhaul.
"What I don't think is right is for these issues to be addressed
in a way that undermines the spirit of economic cooperation and
inconsistent with well-established principles of tax laws," Mr. Lew
said.
European officials said they are following long-standing laws
that prohibit illegal state aid to companies and that they are not
specifically targeting American companies.
The EU's latest action risks further unsettling international
companies facing the broader global effort to curb tax avoidance,
adding a new fear that back taxes could be targeted as well.
"It undermines the environment in Europe for international
business because it creates uncertainty that will ultimately not be
good for the European economy," the secretary said.
Richard Rubin contributed
Write to Ian Talley at ian.talley@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 31, 2016 10:38 ET (14:38 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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