They may be hiding most of their international income in Ireland or wherever, but San Francisco does not need access to most of their income, do they? Tax the

They may be hiding most of their international income in Ireland or wherever, but San Francisco does not need access to most of their income, do they? Tax the portion that they are able to tax. If the tax avoidance becomes or is excessive, you refocus your efforts above local government to seek a solution. "If we increase taxes they'll leave, so there is no point even trying" is a defeatist attitude. And assuming that is how Google really does operate, then expecting charity from Google is ludicrous anyway. (And you are still ignoring the fact that Google is not in a position to do anything besides provide money anyway. Your local government is the one that can actually do something with that money to combat this problem.)