NPR News:欧盟要苹果向爱尔兰补缴145亿美元税款 爱尔兰却不要

Ireland has been ordered by the EU to claw back a staggering $14.5 billion in what the European Commission deems unpaid taxes from Apple. Ireland has lured in multinationals like Apple with rock-bottom tax rates. Today, European regulators said the deal it gave Apple was illegal. Both the U.S. and Irish governments oppose that ruling. On the line to help explain all of this is NPR's Frank Langfitt in London. Good morning.
FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE: Good morning, Renee.
MONTAGNE: Now, Apple routed its profits from Europe, Africa and the Middle East and India through an Irish subsidiary to take advantage of those low tax rates. Why is the EU objecting to this?
LANGFITT: So in a nutshell, Renee, it's about unfair competition from the perspective of the EU. They see Apple getting this unfair advantage by paying so little. And we are talking about an incredibly low tax rate. Margrethe Vestager—she's the European Commission's competition commissioner — she gave this example at a press conference this morning in Brussels.
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MARGRETHE VESTAGER: In 2011, Apple Sales International made a profit of 16 billion euros. The huge majority was allocated to the so-called head office where they remained untaxed. This means that Apple's effective tax rate in 2011 was 0.05 percent.
欧盟要求爱尔兰追回高达145亿美元的税款，因为欧盟委员会认为这是苹果公司应该缴纳的税款。爱尔兰因最低水平的税率吸引了苹果等跨国公司前来避税。今天，欧洲监管机构表示，爱尔兰与苹果签订的协议是违法的。美国政府和爱尔兰政府均表示反对这项裁决。现在NPR新闻的弗兰克·朗费特将从伦敦和我们连线，介绍详细情况。早上好。
弗兰克·朗费特连线：早上好，芮妮。
蒙塔：苹果公司利用其爱尔兰子公司享有的低税率，从欧洲、非洲、中东和印度等地获得利润。为什么欧盟反对这种做法？
朗费特：芮妮，简而言之，欧盟认为这种做法属于不公平竞争。他们认为苹果公司通过少付税款获得了这种不公平的优势。这里谈到的是极低的税率。今天早上，欧洲委员会竞争事务委员玛格丽特·韦斯塔格在布鲁塞尔举行的新闻发布会上举了个例子。
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玛格丽特·韦斯塔格：2011年，苹果国际销售公司获得的利润是160亿欧元。其中大部分利润分配给了享有免税资格的“总公司”。这表明，2011年苹果公司的实际税率为0.05%。

MONTAGNE: .05 percent? That's jaw-dropping, Frank. But Ireland does plan to appeal it. It opposes it. You know, explain exactly why — I mean, it offers these low tax rates, but what?
LANGFITT: Well, this is really — this is not about money, but investment. That's why it's offering these great tax rates. And this is Ireland. Part of Ireland's business model is to lure in companies like Apple and Google. Keep in mind this is a small economy. They need all the investment they can. And this worries them because, going forward, the U.K. is actually a huge trading partner of Europe. They're very concerned about the way Brexit is going to hit them hard. And so they want to — a message they're really trying to put out there is that they're open for business.
MONTAGNE: And why is the U.S. opposing this ruling?
LANGFITT: Well, the U.S. is against it for different reasons. Last week — they knew this ruling was coming — they said the EU was acting like a, quote, "supranational tax authority." The U.S. doesn't like U.S. companies holding the profits overseas, and they are concerned, you know, if Ireland gets the money, that reduces the amount that the U.S. might potentially be able to tax.
MONTAGNE: Apple isn't the only U.S. company that is getting really low taxes in countries in the European Union.
LANGFITT: No, and the European Commission's been cracking down on this. We've seen similar decisions on Starbucks in the Netherlands, Fiat in Luxembourg. But really, Apple is the biggest case so far and certainly the biggest amount of money. And so the United States and other multinationals that benefit from these low tax deals, they're going to be watching this very closely and worrying who might be next.
MONTAGNE: NPR's Frank Langfitt speaking to us from London. Thanks very much.
LANGFITT: Happy to do it, Renee.
蒙塔：0.05%？弗兰克，这真是令人瞠目结舌。但是爱尔兰计划对这项裁决提起上诉。爱尔兰反对这一裁决。请你详细解释一下原因，爱尔兰为什么实行低税制？
朗费特：这与钱无关，爱尔兰看重的是投资。这就是爱尔兰实行低税制的原因。爱尔兰其中的一个商业模式就是吸引苹果、谷歌等跨国公司来爱尔兰投资。记住，爱尔兰经济体规模很小。所以需要尽可能多地吸引投资。而且爱尔兰也对未来感到担心，因为英国是欧洲主要的贸易伙伴。他们担心英国退欧会对他们造成重创。所以，爱尔兰想证明他们对商业开放。
蒙塔：那美国为什么反对这项裁决？
朗费特：美国反对这一裁决有很多原因。上周，他们知道这一裁决将公布，他们说欧盟就像“超国家税务机关”。美国不支持美国公司持有海外利润，美国担心的是，如果爱尔兰追回这笔税款，可能会抵消苹果公司应在美国上交的税款。
蒙塔：苹果公司并不是唯一一家在欧盟国家享有低税率的美国公司。
朗费特：对，欧洲委员会一直在打击这种做法。我们看到其对星巴克在荷兰的子公司以及菲来特在卢森堡的子公司作出了类似的裁决。但是截至目前，苹果公司一案是最大的案件，同时也是涉及税款最多的案件。所以美国及其他从低税率协议中获利的跨国公司将密切关注事件进展，这些公司担心他们可能成为下一个被开罚单的公司。
蒙塔：以上是NPR新闻的弗兰克·朗费特从伦敦带来的报道。非常谢谢你。
朗费特：我很乐意，芮妮。