Ryan: EU’s $14.5B tax ruling against Apple ‘awful’

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Tuesday ripped the European Union’s “awful” determination that Apple should pay Ireland $14.5 billion in back taxes.

{mosads}“Slamming a company with a giant tax bill — years after the fact — sends exactly the wrong message to job creators on both sides of the Atlantic,” Ryan said in a statement. “It’s also in direct violation of many European countries’ treaty obligations.”

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, on Tuesday concluded that Ireland should recoup unpaid taxes from Apple because the country had given the company an advantage over other businesses. Apple and Ireland have said they will repeal the ruling.

Ryan said that the decision shows the need for tax reform. The Speaker’s “Better Way” agenda included a tax reform proposal that would not tax U.S. companies’ foreign earnings going forward and would lower the corporate tax rate.

“We need more American companies to invest their money and create jobs right here in the United States,” Ryan said. “Today’s decision should be a spur to action.”

Several other lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have also blasted the commission’s ruling and said that it’s an indication that Congress should enact tax reform legislation.