There's not much uncertainty for business really. If you're pulling the moves th...

Nasrudith · 2024-09-10T17:58:47 1725991127

[flagged]

joe_the_user · 2024-09-10T19:02:51 1725994971

It is 100% untrue that "the spirit of the law" isn't factor in the US judicial system. The main way it enters explicitly is through courts taking into account the intent of the legislature. The most notable example of this was the way US courts interpreted the 14th amendment, which was far from it's literal statement.

oblio · 2024-09-10T19:50:06 1725997806

> The spirit of the law is a lot like hate speech in that it is not recognized as a thing by the legal system of the United States

This is about the EU which uses a completely different legal system than the US so any US legal reference is basically useless.

yieldcrv · 2024-09-10T09:30:31 1725960631

That doesnt mean regimes we respect should retroactively apply new rules in unpredictable ways

croes · 2024-09-10T10:13:22 1725963202

It's not a new rule.

They just found that Ireland's tax rules from 1991 and 2007 are illegal tax benefits according to the preexisting rule.

Just because they took so long apply existing law doesn't make it retroactive.

imchillyb · 2024-09-10T23:16:51 1726010211

While that sounds true, the EU approved Ireland's 1% tax rate.

This is a retroactive ruling. This is playing favorites, the opposite game.

croes · 2024-09-11T22:56:10 1726095370

An approval doesn't mean it's legal. When they finally looked into it they found it's violating existing laws.

Same with the data contracts with the US, Safe Harbor, Privacy Shield etc. All approved, all later on found a violation of EU law.

That's not retroactive just slow.

skummetmaelk · 2024-09-10T10:44:56 1725965096

Even if it was retroactive, which it is not, being punished for premeditated tax avoidance can hardly be called unpredictable.

The central difference of opinion is of course whether outright gaming the system is acceptable regardless of the written rules being followed to the letter.