Dear All, It’s just been revealed that Google has paid only £6 million in UK tax on profits of nearly £395 million. [1] Google seems to have managed to pull off this huge tax dodge by using tricks like sheltering its profits in tax havens, such as Bermuda. [2]
Google has long prided itself on its reputation as a responsible corporate citizen. [3] But there’s nothing responsible about dodging tax at a time when the country is facing deep cuts.
Google’s boss has said in the past: “We could pay more tax but we would have to do so voluntarily”. [4] Google will only make this choice if they feel enough pressure from us – their users and customers – and understand the risk to their reputation from continuing to dodge tax. Showing them how we feel with huge petition is the first step. Can you sign the petition demanding that Google pay their fair share of tax? https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/google-tax
In the run-up to the Olympics, 38 Degrees members forced high profile sponsors like McDonald’s, Coke and VISA to commit to paying their fair share of tax on their Olympic profits. Our campaign worked because these huge companies were worried about bad PR. The same will be true of Google. Once the petition’s grown to thousands of signatures we’ll organise a high profile petition delivery to their new UK headquarters. We’ll follow that up with the same kind of tactics on Facebook that were so effective in the Olympic tax-dodging campaign.If the petition is big enough, and attracts enough media attention, it could be the first step in forcing Google to reconsider its position on tax-dodging. Can you tell Google it’s time to pay their fair share? Sign the petition here: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/google-tax
Thanks for being involved
Robin, Belinda, David T and the 38 Degrees team
NOTES
[1] The Telegraph: Google pays just £6m UK tax on profits of £395 m http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/9460950/Google-pays-just-6m-UK-tax-on-profits-of-395m.html
[2] Richard Murphy, Tax Research UK blog: Google’s Tax http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2009/04/19/googles-tax
[3] Wikipedia: Don’t be evil http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don’t_be_evil
[4] The Telegraph: Google pays just £6m UK tax on profits of £395m http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/9460950/Google-pays-just-6m-UK-tax-on-profits-of-395m.html
