From The Australian;

“GOOGLE has paid no tax on an estimated $940 million in web search advertising revenue generated locally, instead routing its Australian online ad sales through an Irish subsidiary, Google Ireland.”

“This week, Google Australia reported a net loss of $3.9m on operating revenue of $201m for the year ended December to the Australian Securities & Investments Commission.”

So Google strips $940 million in advertising revenue from Australian businesses to promote their companies primarily within Australia, to sell to primarily Australian consumers, and it then pays $74,000 dollars in corporate tax.

It claims it has complied at all times with Australian tax laws.

I get uncomfortable about rhetoric but surely this is an assault on our national sovereignty.

My question is when are we going to get off our backsides and change those laws to take into account the way business is conducted in the modern world?

And when are we going to pull companies up when they claim 'We pay taxes through the income tax of our workers.'?

We need to be saying; No you don't. Your workers charge you a fee for services and out of that he/she relinquishes a portion to pay for their share of taxes. All you are is a facilitator. Your company's responsibility to our nation is met by its company tax obligations. Shirk them and we will come after you.

Not good enough Google!

I actually agree with you on this one Csteele and I raised the Google
tax issue on another thread, just a few days ago.

Its not just Google either. A number of American software and hardware
companies have worked out how to transfer price their profits clean
out of Australia and to places like Ireland, where they pay very
little tax. The internet is making it simple for them.

One would think that we have some tax officials who can address
the issue and change the legislation as required, but apparently
not. Clearly we are not smart enough.

A company like BHP already pays around 6 billion $ in tax here,
banks pay a fortune too. IMHO all companies benefitting from trade
in Australia should pay their share, not just those which are
easy to target.

To csteele I don't know where you got the information,I'm not so good to get on that material.I really shocked that Google is cheating big and the Australian legislation had allowed them to do such thing.
Hope they get nail by the tax office.
I'm sure that is not the only company, legally probably, cheating!
Ciao

Dear Yabby,

I suppose it is not just the multinationals who partake in this. It was quite a sight seeing Andrew Forrester banging on about the Super profits tax when his company Fortesque Metals had yet 'to write the tax department a cheque for tax owed'.

How on earth did these guys skew the debate so much that large numbers of people view this kind of behaviour as just smart business practice?

Every dollar not paid by these entities means more that we have to find from our own pockets. Lets say Google should have been up for $200 million in tax on the $980 million in revenue it earned, that means every man woman and child in Australia has had to find an extra $10 to cover the sods.

Not good enough by a long shot.

Dear luigi gigi,

The report was in the Australian Newspaper and can be found here.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/australian-it/tax-office-at-a-loss-as-to-googles-finances/story-e6frgakx-1226345203723

*Fortesque Metals had yet 'to write the tax department a cheque for tax owed'*

Indeed csteele, but in this case what is going on is fully documented
and explainable and does not involve overseas transfer pricing.
Whilst Fortesque have one mine shipping out iron ore to the tune
of 50 millions tonnes, they have a massive expansion programme
going on, developing a few more mines, building railways etc, to
take their production to 150 million tonnes within the next year.

That is employing thousands of people and the infrastructure is
there for all to see. Fortesque are also borrowing billions to
fund it all. Last time I checked, these expenses were a legitimate
tax deduction and so they should be. That is quite a different case
from overseas transfer pricing.

I will take this issue seriously, only when I hear those people who cry "tax avoidance" at major multinationals, volunteer to pay GST on the stuff they buy on the internet.

They are operating within the law, in the same way that Google is operating within the law.