Google skips tax on 1.6 b earning

“Google, whose informal corporate motto is ‘don’t be evil’, did not pay any tax on its £1.6 billion advertising revenues in Britain last year,” the Sunday Times reported. Google legally avoided paying more than £450 million in corporation tax to HM Revenue & Customs in 2008, as it diverted all its advertising earnings from customers in Britain to its Irish subsidiary, the newspaper said.

Citing accounts filed with Companies House in the past week, it said, “Google’s 2008 UK corporation tax bill amounted to just £141,519 — and that was tax on the interest generated by its cash pile in UK bank deposits.”

Vince Cable,  deputy leader of Liberal Democrats, urged Google to “pay its fair share” of tax. “Google’s reputation will be severely damaged if it continues to behave in this way. It is ducking its social responsibility,” Cable told the Sunday Times.