They shift revenues around. They create endless shadowy shell companies. And they undermine the social model by dodging taxes. To the European Union, the American tech giants, when they aren’t busy destroying democracy and hollowing out local economies, are paying far too little to the state, and it is the only organisation with the muscle to start forcing them to contribute their fair share. There is one flaw in that analysis, however. Whenever the matter is put before Europe’s own courts, it keeps losing – and the Commission itself looks like an increasingly rogue organisation.
Yesterday, the European General Court decided that a £215 million fine handed to Amazon in 2017 by the Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager was in fact illegal. Amazon did not receive ‘illegal state aid’ as the Commission had insisted, instead the tax deal was perfectly in accordance with Luxembourg’s laws.
Of course, this is the EU, so there is no question that Vestager will resign after her string of defeats
This isn’t an isolated incident either.
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