Bruised Apple

FOR many, there is no question who is the hero and who the villain in this week’s tax confrontation between Brussels and Apple (see ). Gaming of cross-border tax rules has risen inexorably. Apple, with its abundance of intangible assets, which are easier to play around with, has been one of the cleverest at exploiting the gaps. A bill of €13 billion ($14.5 billion) plus interest, the amount that the European Commission says Ireland must recover from the firm for tax avoidance, would pay for all the country’s health-care budget this year and barely dent Apple’s $230 billion cash mountain.But in tilting at Apple the commission is creating uncertainty among businesses, undermining the sovereignty of Europe’s member states and breaking ranks with America, home to the tech giant, at a time when big economies are meant to be co-ordinating their anti-avoidance rules. Curbing tax gymnastics is a laudable aim. But the commission is setting about it in the most counterproductive way possible.