[matt4077]

I'm not sure if you're actually ignorant of the argument, or if you just chose to pretend you'd never heard it. But, basically, it is:

The EU has rules to prevent a race to the bottom. In the long term, they are good for every single EU country, because they allow to actually tax companies, instead of lowering taxes to around 0.01 Euros annually otherwise. Yes, Ireland may have made the best offer this time around. But a year later, it would have been Croatia or Luxembourg.

The value of having a base within the EU is shown by Apple going to Ireland, instead of 0-tax jurisdictions like the Caymans. That value, which Apple uses to create its profit, needs to be financed by taxes.

[valuearb]

The EU actually convinced Apple to move their savings to the Isle of Man. That's not a race to the bottom, that's throwing the baby out with the bath water. Taxing bank deposits like you tax an operating business is a ridiculously dumb policy.

[kevin_thibedeau]

They're taxing the interest gained not the deposits just like everyone else has to pay tax on their interest. Fair is fair.

[valuearb]

There are many countries that don't tax the interest on bank deposits, just none in the EU anymore. And those countries are where the EU is driving companies to move their deposits to.

[eksemplar]

For now. We’re not going to continue to let these unethical companies to operate in the EU forever without contributing.

You probably think this sounds silly, but it’s what the majority of the voters here want and the EU though slow is moving with the people not the corporations.

[valuearb]

It's not silly, just dumb. A foreign company that wants to deposit billions in your countries banks without any other services in return is an immense benefit to your country. Trying to tax them for it on top is short sighted and greedy.

[dragonwriter]

A lot of the foreign-for-tax-purposes funds of US corps is held in US bank accounts in the name of the foreign subsidiary of the US parent. It's not doing any particular good for the economy that is the legal home of the subsidiary except to the extent that it is taxes there.