> So if Google paid more taxes than necessary (legal loopholes), there would be no fines (for bad privacy etc.)? That sounds wrong. I doubt there would be no f

> So if Google paid more taxes than necessary (legal loopholes), there would be no fines (for bad privacy etc.)? That sounds wrong. I doubt there would be no fines; but if Google were paying a "fair" amount of taxes then there would be less of an adversarial relationship with governments: huge fines would be like harming the goose that lays golden eggs. With Google's current tax avoidance/evasion they're just a regular, tasty-looking goose.