Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2016-09-14-Speech-3-503-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20160914.32.3-503-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Madam President, tax fairness is about everybody paying their fair share, and I applaud you, Commissioner, for your work and for having the political steel to reach this decision – a big step in tackling corporate tax evasion.
It beggars belief that Apple only paid corporate tax at a measly the rate of 0.005% in 2014. I believe this decision is a clear message to multinationals which are cherry-picking in terms of tax avoidance. Let us not forget that Apple benefits from infrastructure in Ireland paid for by the Irish taxpayer and its staff use this infrastructure on a daily basis, but the Irish taxpayer does not get anything in return. We cannot have one rule for big multinationals and another one for SMEs, who are the main creators of jobs across the European Union. In my region in the West Midlands, one of the big issues raised with me by SMEs is that this type of sweetheart deal is massively unfair and one they felt that the EU should have tackled long ago. Now Apple’s CEO has threatened that this decision will impact on jobs and investment. I believe this is totally the wrong approach. As one of the largest companies in the world, Apple is promoting corporate social responsibility and I welcome this; however, would it not be better for them to pay their tax rather than cherrypicking again and paying for perhaps a bit of education here or a bit of housing there? Although 13 billion looks like a massive amount of money, to a company like Apple it is only peanuts in terms of their total balance.
Commissioner, the competition rules are a strong tool which should in the end benefit the consumer. Will there now be a focus on the prices of Apple products and the company’s strategies to erode interoperability, such as removal of headphones? Once again, I think this decision is a big step on the road towards tax justice."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata | |
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples