Apple's Irish tax bill is bad news for free-market liberals

So the European Commission has today released its much-delayed iTax. This time, it’s not an Apple innovation but a ruling ordering Ireland to claw back €13bn in back tax from Apple – a record penalty and one that the company and Ireland have both vowed to appeal.

The Commission announced its decision in a typically terse ruling, in which they chuck rotten fruit at Ireland’s low corporate-tax environment. But whilst every one is talking about tax, this fracas between the EC and Ireland over Apple’s bill—what we here locally might call a ballyhoo—actually has less to do with one of the two inevitabilities of life, and much to do with the Commission’s Competition Commissioner, Margrethe Vestager. Vestager could barely conceal her glee at a press conference today when she revealed the mammoth bill. She’s been across the airwaves ever since, talking about her role in bringing Apple to book. So who is she and what has she got against Apple?