Slashdot Mirror
UK Chancellor Confirms Introduction of 'Google Tax'
mrspoonsi sends this report from the BBC:
Companies that move their profits overseas to avoid tax will be subject to a "diverted profits tax" from April, the chancellor has said. In his final Budget before the election, George Osborne said firms that aid tax evasion will also face new penalties and criminal prosecutions. The so-called "Google Tax" is designed to discourage large companies diverting profits out of the the UK to avoid tax. "Let the message go out: this country's tolerance for those who will not pay their fair share of taxes has come to an end," Mr. Osborne said. In 2012 it emerged that internet giant Google avoided tax on £10bn UK revenue in 2011 by doubling the amount of money put into a shell company in Bermuda. Doing so helped it avoid £1bn in corporation tax. Under the new tax regime, companies with an annual turnover of £10m will have to tell HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) if they think their company structure could make them liable for diverted profit tax. Once HMRC has assessed the structures, and decided how much profit has been artificially diverted from the UK, multinationals will have only 30 days to object to the 25% tax.
This is going to put many a libertarian in a hissy fit.
You know, your typical 100K/yr libertarian that has no chance of ever getting hit by a tax like this.
The typical libertarian who wants complete deregulation of *everything* but complains when Comcast is their only broadband choice.
But is the 25% tax lower than what they'd pay if they hadn't diverted profits? Equal? More?
To actually discourage diversion of profit, wouldn't the penalty have to be higher, or at least equal to, what they're avoiding?
And does anyone not think that this will lead to tech companies having field trips to Hollywood to learn their style of creative accounting?
I like you, Stuart. You're not like everyone else, here, at Slashdot.
He will do because its a big topic over here in the UK, and has been for a while.
Personally, I applaud Osborn for doing it - for once we aren't saying "hey, you know those rules we made for you to adhere to? Well, we have decided that there are these other 'rules' as well which we would like you to adhere to, and we will say nasty things about you if you don't. Are they legally binding I hear you ask? Well, no, but that won't stop us from thinking you should be restricted by our second set of 'rules'..."
Instead, we are actually getting something done about the rules under which companies should be paying tax. As a lot of people have said all along, fuck the spirit of the law, apply the actual law. If the law doesn't say what you want it to say, change it. Don't try and bully people into following your additional 'voluntary' rules which you want to make over and above the actual laws.
They provide a country in which Google can make over 10 billion pounds a year. That's something Google should pay towards helping, surely. It's not grabbing their money, it's taking back the money they asked for and were not paid, by Google moving some numbers around between banks, in a direct, purposeful attempt to keep as many of those numbers as possible, to the detriment to the markets in which they made said money.
But I guess bitching about governments is more fun.
Hidden taxes like corporate income tax really abuse the low income population. Alas, demagogues find it easier to pretend otherwise for personal political gain.
So how will taxing Google's profits abuse the low income population? Perhaps google will quadruple the cost of search in order to pass on the cost...
SJW n. One who posts facts.