MP on Google tax avoidance scheme: 'I think that you do evil'
guardian.co.uk
guardian.co.uk
No-one minds if you avoid[1] part of your tax. It's expected behaviour. But Google have taken it to extremes.
People usually say "What's the problem? They're obeying the law".
But Google (and others) might not be obeying the law. They hire expensive huge companies who specialise in tax avoidance. These schemes are borderline legal, sometimes illegal.
When the companies are caught they make a deal to repay some of the tax, and agree not to do it again.
Starbucks claim that they make no profit in England. That's clearly nonsense. Amazon paid about £3.5million in tax, but received £2.5million in government grants.
Avoid a bit of tax, just stop taking the piss.
"Google vice-president Matt Brittin insisted he stood by evidence he gave last year that all the firm's advertising in Europe was sold through its offices in Ireland.
But in a series of testy exchanges, the committee chairman, Margaret Hodge, said his claims were contradicted by documentation MPs had seen and evidence from a "stream" of whistleblowers.
"It was quite clear from all that documentation that the entire trading process and sales process took place in the UK," she told him."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/may/16/google-deni...
"The committee had also been contacted by a senior salesman who Ms Hodge said was paid a "modest" salary, but three or four times that in commission for sales and for "closing deals".
"This is somebody, a senior salesman, who said he was making sales in the UK. This is a UK sale and should be subject to UK tax," she added.
...Mr Brittin said that although sales staff in the UK were promoting Google and encouraging people to spend money, the transaction would take place in Ireland.
But Ms Hodge replied: "We all accept the billing is in Ireland. If sales activity is taking place in the UK, you are misleading both Parliament and the taxpayers in suggesting that is not happening."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/hmrc-are-being...