> the double-Irish and dutch-sandwich were/are completely legal tax-avoidance schemes, for instance
Are they completely legal or is this just a case of they are legal, until a court finds that they actually aren't legal.
Even if they are legal, I would argue that convoluted schemes to avoid paying taxes is unethical in the same way that moving manufacturing to a place with lax environmental or labor laws in unethical. Apple might be able to make phones with what is effectively slave labor legally, but they shouldn't.
> Are they completely legal or is this just a case of they are legal, until a court finds that they actually aren't legal.
To the extent that things are generally legal until they aren't.
The complaints from the US treasury are that the decision goes against pre-existing case law, and so shouldn't be applied retroactively. [1]
A 'power grab' is an adequate description of what's going on; the EU commission is basically forcing member states to redefine their own arm's length principle and their application of it. They would call it 'tax harmonization.'
Are they completely legal or is this just a case of they are legal, until a court finds that they actually aren't legal.
Even if they are legal, I would argue that convoluted schemes to avoid paying taxes is unethical in the same way that moving manufacturing to a place with lax environmental or labor laws in unethical. Apple might be able to make phones with what is effectively slave labor legally, but they shouldn't.