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The way some people seem to see this is "Google contributes merely £6 million to the UK economy", which is obviously not true. Like individuals, corporations w

by blowski 14y ago

The way some people seem to see this is "Google contributes merely £6 million to the UK economy", which is obviously not true. Like individuals, corporations want to pay the least possible tax. If they're paying the legal minimum, what's the problem? If the British people want them to pay more tax, then elect a government which would change the tax law. At the moment, we're electing a government which hisses at corporations to make good headlines.

bengillies 14y ago
Is that even possible though? i.e. is there a party that has pledged to change the tax law to eliminate this sort of loophole?
DanBC 14y ago
There's tax evasion, which is clearly illegal. There's tax avoidance, which is clearly legal, and is what everyone should be doing. Google are in a weird middle ground. They're obeying the letter of the current law, but certainly not the spirit. 'Be careful with incentives' comes into play here; the UK government incentivises with some tax breaks, and so obviously some companies exploit that. Google is stupid when they mention PAYE. That's not a tax that they pay, it is a tax that their employees pay. Pointing out that the little people pay their tax while the big company doesn't is really awful PR. Starbuck is stupid when they point out all the VAT. Again, that's a tax paid by the customer, and not Amazon. And tax avoidance is against Google's best interest. They want smart, well educated, workers. Pay the tax and fund the education system. Perhaps it's a cultural thing? In the US when someone makes a lot of money people tend to think "The American way, well done them" etc. Over here? Not so much. It's a lot better than it was, but we've had ridiculously high tax rates in this country. The highest rate was over 99% during WWII. But it was 90% for most of the 50s and 60s. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_the_United_Kingdom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_the_United_Kingdom) While we're going through austerity we're going to be vociferous when we find people not joining in, not doing their bit, not pulling their weight. Google really needs to work out some better PR. Hopefully along the lines of "Our tax avoidance was a bit extreme, and we're dialling that back a bit so we pay more tax in the UK. Also, here's some stuff for schools, hope it's useful."

by blowski 14y ago

bengillies 14y ago

Is that even possible though? i.e. is there a party that has pledged to change the tax law to eliminate this sort of loophole?

DanBC 14y ago

There's tax evasion, which is clearly illegal. There's tax avoidance, which is clearly legal, and is what everyone should be doing. Google are in a weird middle ground. They're obeying the letter of the current law, but certainly not the spirit. 'Be careful with incentives' comes into play here; the UK government incentivises with some tax breaks, and so obviously some companies exploit that. Google is stupid when they mention PAYE. That's not a tax that they pay, it is a tax that their employees pay. Pointing out that the little people pay their tax while the big company doesn't is really awful PR. Starbuck is stupid when they point out all the VAT. Again, that's a tax paid by the customer, and not Amazon. And tax avoidance is against Google's best interest. They want smart, well educated, workers. Pay the tax and fund the education system. Perhaps it's a cultural thing? In the US when someone makes a lot of money people tend to think "The American way, well done them" etc. Over here? Not so much. It's a lot better than it was, but we've had ridiculously high tax rates in this country. The highest rate was over 99% during WWII. But it was 90% for most of the 50s and 60s. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_the_United_Kingdom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_the_United_Kingdom) While we're going through austerity we're going to be vociferous when we find people not joining in, not doing their bit, not pulling their weight. Google really needs to work out some better PR. Hopefully along the lines of "Our tax avoidance was a bit extreme, and we're dialling that back a bit so we pay more tax in the UK. Also, here's some stuff for schools, hope it's useful."