"Google tax settlement, unfair to taxpayers"
A senior British MP says the tech giant Google’s tax settlement with the UK is “derisory” and unfair to taxpayers.
John McDonnell from the Labor Party called for the National Audit Office to investigate the issue.
"It looks to me from all the independent analysis that this is relatively trivial in comparison with what should have been paid," he said.
The statements come one day after Google announced an agreement to pay UK tax authorities about $185 million for taxes owed for the last decade.
Now Google’s deal will cover a decade of underpayment of UK taxes by the company, which has been criticized in the past for its tax avoidance policies.
According to The Guardian, the company had previously defended its record, telling a US Senate inquiry last year that it was “simply the way the global tax system is working” and that the issue was for politicians to fix.
The Executive Chairman of its parent company Alphabet, Eric Schmidt, has previously said that Google was not doing anything wrong because it complied with tax laws around the world.
A Google spokesman indicated on Friday a change in the policy, saying: “We will now pay tax based on revenue from UK-based advertisers, which reflects the size and scope of our UK business. The way multinational companies are taxed has been debated for many years and the international tax system is changing as a result."
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