> it feels odd that Ireland has now essentially gotten all the benefits of offering this illegal deal by having Apple do business there and now also gets all the back taxes that Apple probably wouldn't have paid to Ireland if they hadn't gotten the deal.
Yes, there's a widespread view in Ireland that this was the best possible outcome: be seen to fight tooth and nail to prevent collecting the taxes, but get them anyway.
> That seems like a bit of a perverse incentive for countries to offer deals they may know will get overturned later because they'll get the money eventually.
I'm not so sure of this, though. The companies aren't fools and have better paid lawyers than the countries, so they won't enter these deals unless they rate their chances of getting away with it.
Sure, I'm not saying this is going to be a likely fraud, but there's much more subtly illegal ways to offer stuff that may be worth the risk for a company and then the government then lobbies via backchannels for the EU to find it illegal.
Yes, there's a widespread view in Ireland that this was the best possible outcome: be seen to fight tooth and nail to prevent collecting the taxes, but get them anyway.
> That seems like a bit of a perverse incentive for countries to offer deals they may know will get overturned later because they'll get the money eventually.
I'm not so sure of this, though. The companies aren't fools and have better paid lawyers than the countries, so they won't enter these deals unless they rate their chances of getting away with it.