Idea for countering US complaints about European free-riding:

US big tech companies pay taxes in the US on profits made in the EU. Thus EU customers contribute to the US defense budget.

Tech companies pay very little taxes in the EU. That's free-riding.

Are these legitimate conclusions from the tax situation? @pbergsen @KeohaneDan @COdendahl @dandrezner @Ce_Moll

"Apple has since 2016 repatriated a lot of its cash in Ireland back to the US following the Trump admin’s tax reforms."
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/16/eu-tax-avoidance-big-companies-ireland-apple-state-aid by @Aidan_Regan

From 2018: "Apple said on Wednesday it expected to pay a $38 billion (€31 billion) tax bill – the largest of its kind ever – as it repatriates overseas cash, most of it once held by Irish subsidiaries, to the United States." https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/apple-to-incur-38bn-us-tax-bill-as-it-repatriates-irish-cash-pile-1.3359240

Of course, the bigger issue is that mulitnationals companies don't pay enough taxes in EU and US.

The transatlantic partners should cooperate in changing that.

Address free-riding more holistically.

This thread was a bit 'provoked' by https://twitter.com/EmmaMAshford/status/1284866334686420993 by @EmmaMAshford