Don’t be evil. Just don’t pay your taxes

by Ian Betteridge on December 20, 2009

Yes, I know that every company likes to use all means legal to avoid tax. But surely a company which prides itself on not “being evil” shouldn’t also be using all means necessary to ensure it doesn’t pay UK corporation tax?

“Google, which has an estimated 90% market share of UK internet searches, last year used a cross-border network of subsidiary companies to ensure it did not pay a penny in corporation tax on its £1.6bn advertising revenues in Britain. The international corporate structure enables Google to avoid paying what could otherwise have been a corporation tax bill in the UK of as much as £450m.”

(Photo by Yodel Anecdotal – http://flic.kr/p/3d7XhU)

Tagged as: advertising, Google, Tax

http://nnutter.com Nathan Nutter

This is completely equivalent to saying, “Google you are rich so don’t be evil and just give us your money because you have so much of it.” Why should Google pay taxes in this manner if other companies are able to do the same thing.
Ian Betteridge

Because once you start claiming, as a company, that you hold yourself to a higher moral standard, you will start being judged by a higher moral standards.

As I’ve said many times before, companies aren’t good, or evil. They’re just not moral beings. They exist solely to make their shareholders rich.
http://Website(optional) groonilla

I think you are right. But you should cover more on this topic.