Apple chief to meet French president amid calls for tech giants to pay more tax

Apple chief executive Tim Cook is in Paris to meet the French president Emmanuel Macron, amid calls by the French leader and European allies to change rules in the region to get technology giants to pay more tax.

Mr Cook and Mr Macron are due to meet on Monday afternoon, according to the French president's public agenda. Mr Macron is leading a group of countries – including Germany, Italy and Spain – that are seeking a way to plug the European loopholes that allow some companies to minimize taxes by shifting profits to jurisdictions such as Ireland or the Netherlands.

Despite setting out as a champion for tech companies and flagging his desire to make his country "a start-up nation", Mr Macron and his ministers have been increasingly vocal about companies like Apple, but also Alphabet's Google, Facebook, Amazon. com and Airbnb needing to change their ways.

Mr Macron said last month in Tallinn, Estonia, during a European Union summit, that internet giants don't contribute to the common good.

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Meanwhile online retailer Amazon.com last week was slapped with a European Union order to pay €250 million plus interest in back taxes to Luxembourg, becoming the latest US giant to run afoul of the bloc’s rules on government subsidies. The EU authority also said it ss suing Ireland for failing to recover a single penny of last year’s record €13 billion bill from Apple.

- (Bloomberg)