Google accused of being evil, doing evil by UK politicians

Google stands accused of acting in a way contrary to its slogan “do no evil”. This continues a debate over tax avoidance, tax evasion and corporate social responsibility

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Last week [May 18th 2013] Google’s European leader Matt Brittin appeared before The Commons Public Accounts Committee in London to defend his Company’s tax arrangements in the UK. A pivotal point was the practice of declaring sales were completed in another country [Ireland] with more generous Corporate taxation arrangements.

The Chair of the Committee, Margret Hodge, was particularly vehement in her criticism of the firm’s methods of tax avoidance in the UK. The criticism had moved on from tax evasion (illegal) to tax avoidance (legal) in a way that amounts to serious departure from the corporate claims of good citizenship.

The Guardian reported that

“[The] Commons Public Accounts Committee Members reacted in disbelief on Thursday [16th May 2013] after it emerged that they paid just £3.4m of tax on £3.2bn of sales taken from UK customers last year as their sales were technically “closed” in low-tax Ireland.”

Writing in The Observer a few days later, Google CEO Eric Schmidt noted:

“It is tempting for every government to assume that they will benefit if and when the current [tax] structure changes. But in reality, it’s probably only a significant increase in corporation taxes globally that would make every country a “winner” – and the consequences of that would likely be less innovation, less growth and less job creation. That said, the UK government has the perfect opportunity to take the lead in shaping this complex debate at the G8 summit next month. We hope George Osborne seizes the initiative and makes meaningful tax reform one of the top items on the agenda.”

It’s a Tax Dodge, says Hodge

Margaret Hodge had made clear her view at the Committee investigation, telling Google’s European CEO Matt Brittin, that his company’s behaviour on tax was “devious, calculated and, in my view, unethical”.

[Mr Brittin] had been recalled by MPs after being accused of misleading parliament over the firm’s tax affairs six months ago. Hodge said: “You are a company that says you ‘do no evil’. And I think that you do do evil.” Hodge was referring to Google’s long-standing corporate motto, “Don’t be evil,” which appeared in its $23bn US stock market flotation prospectus in 2004.

Do no evil image

Image from grokdot

To be continued

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