An EU ruling that Apple Inc must pay a huge tax bill
to Ireland was clearly based on facts and existing rules and was not a decision
aimed against the United States, European Commission President Jean-Claude
Juncker said on Sunday.
Last week, European Union antitrust regulators
ordered Apple to pay up to 13 billion euros ($14.5 billion) in taxes
to the Irish government after ruling that a special scheme to route profits
through Ireland was illegal state aid.
Apple's Chief Executive Tim Cook last week described
the ruling as "total political crap", but France and Germany have
come out to back Brussels on the decision.
Juncker said EU Commission investigations on taxation
had mainly targeted European companies.
The decision comes amidst a coordinated global
initiative to crack down on tax evasion by multinational companies, spearheaded
by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD).
The ruling against Apple has pushed the issue into the
limelight and raised the risk of significant push-back from the United States,
analysts say, where some lawmakers are saying the result represents a European
encroachment on the U.S. potential tax base.
In separate comments to Reuters on the sidelines of
the G20 on Saturday, Pascal Saint-Amans, director of the OECD Center for Tax
Policy and Administration, called Apple's tax planning "outrageous"
but, like Juncker, said the decision was based on enforcing current
regulations.
Saint-Amans said he believed it would be unlikely to
serve as a precedent for enforcement on future income earned by multinationals.
Juncker's remarks appeared designed to reassure U.S.
lawmakers, who have bickered for years over the treatment of off-shore income
but now fear that the European Commission move would mean more profits earned
by U.S. corporations flowing into European tax coffers.
"This is not a decision against the United States
of America," said Juncker.
($1 = 0.8966 euros)
(Reporting by Nathaniel Taplin; Editing by Robert
Birsel)
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