It does feel a little weird then that Apple is being fined here then? It seems like Ireland did the thing that's against the rules by offering the deal, not Apple? Obviously they worked on it together, but 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.
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.
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.