Apple has emphatically dared the European Union over a European Commission’s order that the iPhone-maker reimburse Ireland 13 billion euros ($14 billion) in back taxes.
According to AFP Apple was on the offensive against Brussels in an EU court on Tuesday.
The order “defies reality and common sense,” Apple’s lawyer Daniel Beard told the EU’s lower General Court.
The commission’s “conclusion… is wrong,” he added at the start of two days of hearings.
AFP adds, “Lawyers for the world’s biggest company faced EU officials in the Luxembourg court, challenging a decision that CEO Tim Cook slammed at the time as “total political crap” with no basis in law.
“Ireland, which is similarly appealing the decision, lashed out at the EU’s “astonishing” interpretation of tax law.
“The Commission decision simply ignores Irish laws,” Ireland’s representative Maurice Collins told judges.
“The commission’s historic decision was delivered in August 2016 by Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, a shock decision that put Europe at the forefront of an emerging effort to rein in the power of America’s largest technological companies.”
