Spanish Authorities Raid Google Offices Over Tax (reuters.com)

An anonymous reader shares a Reuters report:Spanish officials raided Google's Madrid offices on Thursday in a probe related to its payment of taxes, a person familiar with the matter said, barely a month after the internet company had its headquarters in France searched on suspicion of tax evasion. A spokeswoman for Google said in a brief statement the company complied with fiscal legislation in Spain just as it did in all countries where it operated. The company was working with authorities to answer all questions, the spokeswoman added. Google is under pressure across Europe from politicians and the public upset at how multinationals exploit their presence around the world to minimize their tax bills.

Comments

Re:Just fix it

[Big Hairy Ian]

And then no one but the big corporations would be able to afford to sell things over the internet.

Shell games and double talk

[sjbe]

a person familiar with the matter said, barely a month after the internet company had its headquarters in France searched on suspicion of tax evasion.

I don't think there is any doubt that they are evading taxes. The problem is that they appear to be doing so (technically) legally. I'm wondering when countries will wise up and finally start changing the laws to make this sort of tax dodging hard or impossible. I realize to some degree this is playing a game of legal whack-a-mole but it needs to be done.

A spokeswoman for Google said in a brief statement the company complied with fiscal legislation in Spain just as it did in all countries where it operated.

While that is most likely true it also is nothing more than avoiding the question. They know they are avoiding taxes and the fact that they manage to do so in some clever legal fiction doesn't make is any more ethical. Google is hugely profitable and the shell game they are playing to avoid taxes is reprehensible as far as I'm concerned. I'm particularly galled when they act like it is somehow the fault of the lawmakers that they are dodging taxes they really should owe.

Spare me the arguments about "it's legal so it's right" - lots of things are legal but aren't ethical and this is one of them. I'm an accountant and crap like this just infuriates me because I'm the one that would be asked to be "morally flexible" about this.

Re:Shell games and double talk

[Anonymous Coward]

Your #1 flaw in your presumption is you assume that the government has a RIGHT to collect taxes. It does not have that right. It is a necessary evil that we collect taxes, and everyone, everywhere should do everything in their power to avoid taxes, and keep their own money. I would consider it a duty of the citizen to avoid all taxes as legally possible.

Taxes are regressive. All of them.

Before one can refuse to pay taxes in the entirety, one must first cease and desist using the services of a government. Otherwise, the cause lacks moral legitimacy, the same as a tenant in a building who refuses to pay any rent when they are still inhabiting and using the space which they are renting, and even demanding the landlord provide further services.

It's one thing to practice rent withholding when needed to compel the landlord to take some further action, but even then, the tenants are expected to pay.

Otherwise, it is engaging in theft with demands that the government serve for free.

Unless you can show that Google has abjured itself of any availment of the Spanish government?

Re:Shell games and double talk

[Archangel Michael]

one must first cease and desist using the services of a government.

Government compels, under threat of government guns, the use of Government services.

Your argument is invalid.

Yes governements do have the right to collect tax

[sjbe]

Your #1 flaw in your presumption is you assume that the government has a RIGHT to collect taxes. It does not have that right.

They do have a right to collect taxes. It's not even a question. In the US this is enshrined in the Constitution. You might try reading it sometime. Other countries have similar legal frameworks. Your notion that governments have no right to collect taxes is preposterous nonsense. Furthermore it would be impossible to have a functioning civil society without taxation and you can't have taxation in the first place without a legal framework to support it. It's legal, appropriate and necessary. Get over it.

It is a necessary evil that we collect taxes, and everyone, everywhere should do everything in their power to avoid taxes, and keep their own money. I would consider it a duty of the citizen to avoid all taxes as legally possible.

Taxes are the price of civilized society. Don't like taxes? Go live in the woods somewhere off the grid. If you want to be a part of society then shut up, pay your fair share, and enjoy the results. Don't think the amount you are asked to pay is fair? Work to get the tax law reformed but understand that you will need to pay enough to cover the government services that we collectively demand.

Taxes are regressive. All of them.

I don't think you have a clue what the word regressive actually means when it comes to tax.

Re:Yes governements do have the right to collect t

[dunkelfalke]

It is NOT a right of government to collect taxes.

Of course it is. In fact, it is not just a right, but even a duty to collect taxes to fund it.

If you're going to refer to an document, and use that to justify taxes, you should also realize that that document limits taxation for only two purposes.

"General welfare" is a very nebulous term. You may have a different opinion of what exactly is "general welfare" than the people who are a part of the government, but it doesn't make yo right and them wrong.

I read it all the time.

Then you fail at reading comprehension. It is sad that a German has to explain all these things to you.

Civilization and society doesn't require taxes.

Again, this is just your opinion and not confirmed by facts. All civilised countries collect taxes.

In this case, slavery to the state.

And again that shows that you don't have a grasp of your own language. Slavery is when you are a property that can be owned, sold and damaged and cannot legally leave the servitude. Nothing of it is even remotely comparable to paying taxes.

Re:No extra accountant needed

[Austerity Empowers]

Your shareholders can't demand you break the law, or even flirt with it.

No, they're not allowed to do that in the US either. For the most part, no one is breaking the law. The mechanisms they are using are fully legal, generally by exploiting legalisms that were intentionally left in the tax code for "generous campaign contributions". The butt-hurt feeling everyone has, that was their government selling them out, leaving these ways of not paying taxes everything thought they should be paying.

Now perhaps Google is breaking the law in these cases, that's for a court to figure out. I bet it's not so simple and clear cut. I have heard rumors however that Spain and France employ some extra-legal methods of dealing with these cases that involve some back scratching. And perhaps Google is going to pay a percentage of what it owes with a very disingenuous "My bad", and politicians are going to walk away talking about how they brought down the monster and somewhere some programs won't be paid for because the money doesn't exist.