Lawmaker accuses Google of dodging taxes
British lawmakers have rejected Google’s attempts to persuade them that the internet search giant was transparent and fair.
An influential committee of British lawmakers accused search company Google of dodging its taxes on Thursday in a scathing report that said the US Internet company took on highly contrived arrangements serving no purpose other than to avoid paying its fair share.
The report came after testimony by Google Vice President Matt Brittin, who tried to persuade members of parliament’s Public Accounts Committee that his company was transparent and fair. Committee chair Margaret Hodge rejected arguments that Google’s advertising sales take place in Ireland and not the UK.
“Google brazenly argued before this committee that its tax arrangements in the UK are defensible and lawful,” she wrote, adding that the “argument is deeply unconvincing and has been undermined by information from whistleblowers, including ex-employees of Google, who told us that UK-based staff are engaged in selling.”
Hodge said the government needs to act to shut down loopholes.
“The company’s highly contrived tax arrangement has no purpose other than to enable the company to avoid UK corporation tax,” she said.
Google countered on Thursday that while it welcomed the call to make the system simpler and more transparent, the company was honouring the law.
“As we’ve always said, Google complies with all the tax rules in the UK, and it is the politicians who make those rules,” the company said in a statement. “It’s clear from this report that the Public Accounts Committee wants to see international companies paying more tax where their customers are located, but that’s not how the rules operate today.”