The European Court of Justice upheld a 2016 decision that said Apple received unlawful aid from Ireland.

Apple has been ordered to pay Ireland €13bn (£11bn; $14bn) in unpaid taxes by Europe’s top court, putting an end to an eight-year row.

The European Commission accused Ireland of giving Apple illegal tax advantages in 2016, but Ireland has consistently argued against the need for the tax to be paid.

The Irish government said it would respect the ruling.

Apple said it was disappointed with the decision and accused the European Commission of “trying to retroactively change the rules”.

A separate European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling on Tuesday also brought a long-running case with Google to a close, with the company ordered to pay a €2.4bn (£2bn) fine for market dominance abuse.

  • Squizzy@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    2 months ago

    I am well aware of this line of thinking and generally do support social safety nets and shit like it but I disagree that I am in the same class as those who refuse to meaningfully take part in society and I am only at a surface level in the same position due to my governments inability to discourage this behaviour and their insistence on providing too much.

    One of the families near me, two unemployed parents 8 kids are after being moved out of their free 4 bed house and into a larger one to accommodate their inability to family plan and as a consequence of their willful unemployment and inability to look after their kids.

    As for the child care, thatnis combined with the mortgage for the 3k figure but we also should not have to put our careers on hold because child care is prohibitively expensive for us while others are paid to mind their own kids.

    • sandbox@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      2 months ago

      It’s quite sad that you consider that the only way to “take part in society” is to have a job. I’m disabled and though I do work I might not be able to do so in the future, and you’re essentially saying that if that happens I’ll no longer have any sort of value. I really think that’s some brainwashing, you can only see your own value through your labour. It’s like some kind of slave morality.

      I think it’s far more important to protect the welfare of children who had no choice in whether they were born or not, than it is to “punish” poor people for making bad choices. What would you have as the alternative?

      You keep having this whole “having your cake and eating it too” argument with yourself. You are simultaneously hard-done-by because you can’t go on a holiday every year, but also you’re not because you have a mortgage and a big childcare bill.

      The reality of the situation is that there is no such thing as the middle class, it’s just propaganda made up by the ruling class to divide the working class, and it has worked wonders on you. You’re envious of your neighbours, and you see them as your enemies rather than your potential allies in the bigger fight. We are all exploited by the ruling class, and unless we can accept that, we’ll never be able to change things for the better.