Actually, I find the bouncing around of fees and payments behind these internet companies very complex, and maybe even justified to some extent. The value-add t

Actually, I find the bouncing around of fees and payments behind these internet companies very complex, and maybe even justified to some extent. The value-add that generates the taxable income is almost entirely elsewhere. Let's say Google Spain got €100M in revenue and had €20M local expenses (mostly sales, local support and localization). Now, say they owe €30M to US HQ for the service, servers, R&D, IP, support, etc... among other expenses. (For simplicity, let's suppose everything is hosted and originates in California.) That leaves Spain with €50M in profit, ready to be taxed by Spanish tax authorities. This sounds quite out of proportion. The great value-added is not in Spain, it's in the US. Google HQ could easily establish Google Spain owes €80M in service costs, thus local profit is nil. To me that's fair: corporate has the right to charge whatever they see fit for their services and collect profits accordingly. They way I see it, paying fees to the Bermudas is a US, not Spain, tax evasion problem.