Google To U.K.: Don't Snipe About Our Tax Rate
Google CEO dismisses complaints of low corporate taxes,
says Britain should be grateful for the economic boost the company
provides.
Google CEO Eric Schmidt thinks the U.K. should be
grateful to his company for helping its economy -- not sniping at it for
paying so little in corporate taxes.
Schmidt told listeners of the BBC Radio 4 news program
"World At One"
on April 19, "We [have hired] more than 2,000 employees and are
investing heavily in Britain. We empower literally billions of pounds of
startups through our advertising network and so forth, and we're a key
part of the electronic commerce expansion of Britain, which is driving a
lot of economic growth for the country."
Google paid £6 million ($9 million) to the government in taxes on its local profits in 2011.
"Britain has been a very good market for us," Schmidt said, pointing out
that his company's taxation is no different from British firms
operating in the U.S. "The most important thing to say about our taxes
is that we fully comply with the law, and should the law change, we'll
comply with [such changes] as well."
Last year British lawmakers won headlines for what amounted to a
mini-campaign against the alleged ducking of local tax obligations by
many large companies, including Starbucks and Google. For many Brits,
this was crystallized in a set of exchanges between representatives of a
number of these firms and the House of Commons Public Accounts
Committee. The Committee claimed these corporates were "using the letter
of tax laws both nationally and internationally to immorally minimize
their tax obligations."
Matt Brittin, CEO of Google's British arm, told the Committee his firm
had not breached its famous "Don't Be Evil" tagline, to which Committee
chairwoman Margaret Hodge MP responded, "We are not accusing you of
being illegal; we are accusing you of
being immoral."
Schmidt clearly sees no cause for the fuss, pointing out, "The fact of
the matter is these are the way taxes are done globally."
Still, the issue is on the minds of
many European politicians. British Chancellor George Osborne has expressed interest in setting up
international agreements to limit tax evasion, although he also cut corporate tax rates by 5% recently in an effort to entice more companies like Google to
invest in the U.K.
For his part, Schmidt has expressed interest in expanding Google's
global reach. During a recent trip to the Democratic People's Republic
of Korea, Schmidt tried to persuade his hosts to allow more Internet
openness as a way of making the country more of a "proper country."
"North Korea is by far the most isolated country on earth," he said.
"There's essentially no Internet access. There are roughly a million
mobile phones, but they don't even have the basic capability of
browsing, so the average North Korean person is completely cut off from
any of the kinds of conversations or knowledge that's going on
globally."
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英國：納稅不是「自願選擇」
更新時間 2012年12月9日, 格林尼治標準時間12:15
星巴克在英國的連鎖分店超過700家
英國財政部首席部長丹尼·亞歷山大告誡跨國公司，納稅是義務，不是取悅顧客的「自願選擇」。
亞歷山大周日（9日）在接受BBC採訪時表示，英國政府繼續在國內外查處避稅行為。
他說，對大公司以及任何個人來說，納稅絕對不能是自願性的安排。
上周四，美國咖啡連鎖店星巴克宣佈，今後兩年內將向英國國庫繳納2000萬英鎊的企業稅。
此前，星巴克被曝光連續多年在英國繳稅少得可憐，引發眾怒以及抵制呼聲。雖然避稅手段完全合法，但是星巴克仍然被指控行為不道德。
星巴克在英國運作14年，總計繳納公司稅860萬英鎊，過去三年中，分文未交。但是，星巴克2011年一年在英國的營業額就將近4億英鎊。
另外兩家因為避稅受到批評的國際性大公司還包括亞馬遜和谷歌。
"緊縮時代"
但是，亞馬遜和谷歌都說，不會步星巴克的後塵、自願交稅。
在接受BBC採訪時，亞歷山大還強調，在上個星期公布的秋季預算案中，政府決定給英國海關稅務署增撥款項，用於打擊避稅與逃稅。
他說，這樣的目的是每年增加90億英鎊的稅收。
亞歷山大還說，英國正在與德國和法國一起，向經合發展組織注資，協助建立全球性協議，阻止大公司利用將利潤轉移到稅收更低的國家來避稅。
他說，「緊縮時代，每個人都有義務按制度納稅。」
衛報週評：對跨國企業徵稅是一場戰爭
編輯部 — 週四, 2012-12-06 22:39
節譯/葉興台
英國政府帳務委員會本週三發布的聲明，將充斥著天文數字和有關公平的議論，但本週一政府帳務委員會主席赫吉（Margaret Hodge）所發布的大企業如何逃避公平繳稅的報告，宛似在放火，報告充滿了暗示，應該一次就能整合各黨派政治人物。
根據英國衛報的一篇評論，這份報告的重點在於：Google、亞馬遜、星巴克等跨國企業正利用不同的管轄權和複雜的會計法規，避繳企業稅。這份報告
還清楚地說明，英國的稅務人員和企業聰明敏捷的會計師之間有多嚴重的失衡，以致於問題相當嚴重，嚴重到感覺起來像是一個國家危機。讓我們試算一下。企業稅
的稅收快速減少，從2010至2011年度的464億英鎊（約台幣2.1兆元），減至2011至2012年的400億英鎊。英國國稅局稱這個短少的64億
英鎊為財稅缺口，這是他們認為應該收到、最後實際收到的落差。整體而言，英國財稅缺口為驚人的320億英鎊。這比英國中央政府撥給地方政府的經費還要多，
與整體的國防預算相差不多，約為教育預算的一半，而英國對海外援助的預算還爭議不休。因此，奇怪的是，英國各界對這個議題的討論時間竟然這麼少。
當我們聽到英國財政大臣歐斯本報告房租補貼、在職工作福利和育兒津貼所需的經費時，請記住前述的財稅缺口。這是一場戰爭，但英國國稅局吃了敗仗。英
國國稅局顯然努力縮小這個缺口，但經過8年的嘗試後，只縮小了10億英鎊。政府帳務委員會表示，英國國稅局不夠積極，還正面看待這個情況，令人難以置信，
這個機構不該就這樣接受失敗。從字裡行間讀來，英國國會議員似乎認為，英國稅務人員不夠聰明，行動不夠迅速，缺少對抗他們得對抗的人所需的工具。
政府帳務委員會的報告指出，對那些依賴英國國稅局快速行動，以公平分配處理他們津貼的英國人而言，這將造成巨大的衝擊。通用福利
（universal
credit）需要超優的電腦化系統，但英國國稅局沒有應變計畫，他們在抓逃漏稅和詐欺的表現每況愈下。因此報告指出，英國家庭可能發現，宜於英國國稅局
的差勁表現，在通用福利金減少的情況下，他們可能無法支付所有的開銷。這些英國民眾對於企業稅越來越少可能會更加生氣，赫吉擔心企業稅正逐漸變成任意稅
（voluntary tax），但問題不僅如此。
當亞馬遜以低價販售書籍、遊戲軟體或DVD，從海外市場賺到鉅額利潤，卻是在消滅認真繳稅的在地商家的營業機會。星巴克和其他跨國咖啡連鎖店的做
法，也會造成同樣的結果。政府一直強調，我們依賴中小企業帶動成長，但他們卻被跨國企業的營運模式擊垮。問題還不僅是企業競爭。英國國會局課不到跨國企業
的稅，只好鎖定小商家，但這個動作所傳遞的訊息是，你如果夠大，就可以不必繳稅，這將破壞對稅務體系的信心。繳稅依賴的是被課稅者的同意和合作，但企業稅
短徵破壞了這個約定。如政府帳務委會所說的：「英國民眾感到憤怒和挫折，因為他們感覺政府對小老百姓和小企業努力查稅，卻明顯寬待大型企業。」因此，這不
僅是一場有關全球化市場下政府能力的戰爭，也是一場有關政府的國內威信的戰爭。由於英國經濟持持續疲軟，很難想像另一個國內政策會帶來更多傷害。
持平而論，歐斯本已開始注意到這件事，英國正與歐洲其他國家合作，試圖找出逼跨國企業多繳稅的方法。而初步跡象顯示，由於擔心形象受損，更擔心消費者抵制，星巴克正與英國國稅局討論如何多繳稅。
消費者抵制和採取行動是好事。公益組織UK
Uncut已公布不願公平繳稅的英國企業名單。但不能只依賴消費者抵制，還需要兩大行動。一是，簽署要求跨國企業公平繳稅的協議，包括打擊避稅天堂，這應
成為英國的主要外交政策目標。二是，英國國稅局須提升能力，徵募更好的人才和強化領導體系，才能展現決心，積極打擊逃漏稅。
Starbucks UK's Kris Engkov: "We are going to do what's required beyond the law"
Coffee chain Starbucks has agreed to pay more UK corporation tax, after a public outcry over how little it pays.
Kris Engskov, managing director of Starbucks UK, announced
that the company would pay "a significant amount of tax during 2013 and
2014, regardless of whether the company is profitable".
One tax expert described the move as "unprecedented".
HM Revenue and Customs reacted by saying that corporation tax "is not a voluntary tax".
"The public expects businesses to pay their fair share," the
tax authorites added, "and HMRC will challenge, through the courts if
necessary, any structures or tax payments that do not comply with the UK
tax law."
But Amazon and Google, also under fire for paying little UK tax, held firm.
The extra tax could amount to £20m over the next two years, Mr Engskov said.
Bill Dodwell, head of tax policy at the accountants Deloitte,
told the BBC that he suspected the figure was a "sensible number taking
account of the scale of the business and their history of past losses".
"This is an unprecedented move for a company to announce this sort of change," he said.
'Joke'
Starbucks' announcement comes after much public anger over the
revelation of how little corporation tax it pays in the UK, with some
people saying they would boycott its outlets.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
Offering to pay some tax if and when it suits you doesn't stop you being a tax dodger”
UK Uncut
The company has paid just £8.6m
in corporation tax in its 14 years of trading in the UK, and nothing in
the last three years, despite UK sales of nearly £400m in 2011.
Starbucks has reported a taxable profit only once in its 15 years of operating in the UK, often reporting losses.
"It is extraordinary," Stephen Williams, Treasury spokesman
for the Liberal Democrats, told the BBC. "People have been joking that
some of these multinationals seem to think that paying tax is voluntary.
Well Starbucks have just confirmed the joke really.
"Tax is something that is a legal obligation that you should
pay according to the tax rules of a particular country. It's not a
charitable donation in order to gain sort of brand value. But that seems
to be what Starbucks are doing."
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
I don't think there will be many
people who stop using Google... but the problem for Starbucks is there
is a coffee shop on every High Street”
Richard Bacon
Conservative MP
Conservative MP Richard Bacon, who is a member of the Public Accounts Committee, expressed surprise at the move.
"They have recognised the public outrage at the fact that a
company as large as Starbucks would... not be paying any corporation
tax.
"They have realised that it is a PR problem and it is a PR
response. It is nice for the exchequer to have a bit more money, but it
is not a long-term solution to the problem that we face."
Starbucks admitted that the degree of hostility and emotion
surrounding the tax issue had "taken us a bit by surprise" and that the
move was an attempt to rebuild trust with its customers.
"Since we started doing business here, we have always
organised our tax affairs according to the letter of the law," said Mr
Engskov.
"[But] with the backdrop of these difficult times, in the area of tax, our customers clearly expect us to do more," he said.
Mr Engskov added that the company had found it difficult to
make profits in the UK, which has "the most competitive espresso market
in the world", despite "two million customers visiting us each week in
hundreds of stores across the UK".
The extra tax payments will be funded by not claiming "tax
deductions for royalties or payments related to our intercompany
charges", Mr Engskov said.
Margaret Hodge, the chair of the Public Accounts Committee, says this is a welcome first step
Mr Dodwell said he thought the coffee chain would not claim
some of the deductions they may otherwise have been allowed to claim.
"We don't know the details - that will be between the company and HM Revenue and Customs," he said.
More protests
UK Uncut, a group that protests against corporate tax
avoidance in the UK, said that Starbucks' announcement was not enough
and that 40 "actions" would take place in Starbucks stores up and down
the country.
"There's no money yet, and hollow promises on press releases
don't fund women's refuges or child benefits," the group said. "Offering
to pay some tax if and when it suits you doesn't stop you being a tax
dodger. Today's announcement is just a desperate attempt to deflect
public pressure.
"The £10m that Starbucks has estimated it may end up paying
is £5m less than that paid by their nearest competitor Costa coffee."
Starbucks has 760 outlets across the UK and says it
contributes "£300m to the UK economy" each year. Rival Costa has 1,479
coffee shops.
In a statement, Amazon said: "Amazon pays all applicable taxes in every jurisdiction that it operates within."
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