Google getting slapped big for dodging French tax collector

arstechnica.com

3 pointssaint-loup3 comments

Aggressively taxing corporate revenue is a massively stupid idea for any country to pursue. Google doesn't HAVE to have offices in France, but they do. They employ thousands of people who all pay income tax, and a lot of it. Having a company like Google employing people and spending money in your country is a huge economic benefit. If Google decides that France (or any country) is too much of pain in their ass, they could just pull out and leave those thousands jobless or offer to help them relocate to Ireland or any place with more sensible tax laws. Now THAT would get some headlines. Keep taxes reasonable. Don't be dicks about it.

Income tax is paid by the employees.

Google is going to suffer considerable pain in the EU if they try to play the "we employ lots of people and they all pay their tax" card.

The obvious answer to that is "yes, they pay their taxes so why don't you?"

I'm not saying they should pay no tax but my guidelines still apply. Keep taxes reasonable. Don't be dicks about it. France is being a dick. They made their own tax laws. If what companies do is legal under their tax law you can't whine about it and try to extort/sue them for more. Instead, change the law and deal with the fallout (more tax revenue or more unemployed French people). If there's no incentive for a company to have employees in a country there will be NO taxes paid and they can all eat cake.

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