Google tax

[fullyautomatix]

Will it be retrospective ?

Cant help but think that they are actually allowing those companies to walk away with not paying the correct tax.

[TheFaQQer]

It will be neither retrospective nor effective.

But it will get the headlines.

In the same way the cracking down on Swiss tax evaders is projected to save £5bn a year becomes "it saves £5bn a year" becomes "it actually brought in f*** all last year" - you get the headline of £5bn savings because we're tough on tax evaders, but you actually get none of the money projected.

[PerfectStorm]

i fear their evasion schemes will become more complex

[VectraMan]

i fear their evasion schemes will become more complex

I fear they'll just leave the country. Either that, or pay the tax and put their prices up to compensate.

[PerfectStorm]

I fear they'll just leave the country. Either that, or pay the tax and put their prices up to compensate.

Or just deal with it, or have someone else fill their place if they do **** off.

[NickFitz]

I fear they'll just leave the country. Either that, or pay the tax and put their prices up to compensate.

How much are Google charging for searches nowadays?

[PerfectStorm]

How much are Google charging for searches nowadays?

Their prices to advertisers and those who use the data they harvest - the real customers. We're the product.

[Sysman]

How much are Google charging for searches nowadays?

If you are an advertiser, the going rate, whatever that is nowadays.

Edit:PerfectStorm beat me to it.

[Zero Liability]

I fear they'll just leave the country. Either that, or pay the tax and put their prices up to compensate.

Oh but then they get to bring out another favourite toy of theirs - price controls... and perhaps that other "free market" Tory favourite of capital controls. Mind you, they will probably reserve the former of those for the possibility of the various QEs around the world beginning to percolate through "main street" and/or should they need to contain the deflationary collapse their debt addiction has precipitated.

[meridian]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30420571

So only £360m estimated to raise, any calculations are at the discretion of HMRC (cue long and protracted arguments between tax lawyers), and raises the spectre of UK companies being taxed higher elsewhere - with Double Tax treaties thus reducing the overall UK tax take.

Nothing to see here, just more empty words to appease the Daily Mail readers.

We don't need more tax laws, we just need the ones that we have to be applied. Either Google et al are already moving profits offshore for the express purpose of avoiding tax, or they are not. If they are not, then STFU, and if they are, then prosecute under existing tax laws.