Ireland: We’re Not Apple’s “Holy Grail of Tax Avoidance”

If Apple has “sought the Holy Grail of tax avoidance,” as Sen. Carl Levin (D. Mich.) of the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations claims, the company didn’t find it in Ireland. Because, according to the Irish government, Ireland is “a highly tax-compliant country.” And if it’s allegedly being used as a tax haven by companies like Apple, it’s because loopholes in U.S. tax law allow it to.

“[These] are not issues that arise from the Irish taxation system,” Ireland’s Deputy Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore said Tuesday, responding to a U.S. Senate investigation that alleges that Apple dodged taxes on tens of billions of dollars in profits held in Irish subsidiaries. “They are issues that arise from the taxation systems in other jurisdictions and that is an issue that has to be addressed first of all in those jurisdictions.”

Gilmore’s comments come ahead of Apple CEO Tim Cook’s testimony before a U.S. Senate hearing into the company’s offshore tax practices. Cook is expected to be grilled on Senate investigation findings that allege Apple moved billions of dollars in profits to subsidiaries in Ireland to significantly reduce its tax liability. Apple vehemently denies this, arguing that it does not use its Irish subsidiaries as “tax gimmicks.”