What have you read in
the last month about Google’s contribution to the British economy? Chances are you will have seen many articles
about the moral offensiveness of its tax arrangements, which have led to it
paying virtually no corporation tax in the UK.
You have probably seen
politicians and Richard Murphy finger-wagging and lecturing on how such
terrible abuses of the system must be stopped because these horrible companies
are leeching money out of the UK economy.
After all, why should we allow big business to do business in the UK if
they aren’t prepared to pay their way through the tax system? We should all be outraged shouldn’t we? Shouldn’t we?
What you probably
didn’t see, because it was pretty much buried in the press, was a report that
Google is planning to consolidate
its United Kingdom offices in a brand new one-million-square-foot development
near London’s King’s Cross Station, at a cost of a reported £1 billion. Yes, one million square feet of brand new
building. That should be a big story – by any standards it is a massive
investment in the UK that will bring with it many, many thousands of
much-needed jobs in the construction industry, from high-flying architects, designers,
lawyers, accountants, project managers, health and safety officials, building labourers,
painters and decorators.....I think you get the message. In these current times, when employment is
still far too high and there are precious few businesses investing in the UK,
surely this should have been trumpeted as a good news story. But it passed barely without a mention. Why?
Because it doesn’t quite sit comfortably with the anti-globalisation/anti-capitalist
rhetoric which politicians of all shades are so completely wrapped up in at the
moment? Because it might require an
admission that it is facile to dismiss companies such as Google as “leeches”
when in fact they contribute in so many ways.
Perhaps it is partly that by minimising their UK tax bill through
perfectly legal tax planning, Google have amassed the financial strength to
make such a massive investment. And
perhaps it is because of our existing tax laws that they have chosen to make
that investment in the UK. There is a
danger in the present heated debate of throwing the baby out with the bath-water. There is nothing wrong with having a
legitimate debate about what this country’s tax laws should be, but it is
playing with fire to publicly castigate companies for doing things which are
perfectly legal without balancing the argument with a proper acknowledgement of
what they contribute.
It all brings to mind
the wonderful Monty Python sketch in the Life of Brian, “What did the Romans
ever do for us?” so in tribute to that masterwork, here’s my new 21st
century take on it:
Reg: They've bled us white, the bastards. They've taken
everything we had, not just from us, from our fathers and from our fathers'
fathers.
Stan: And
from our fathers' fathers' fathers.
Reg: Yes.
Stan: And
from our fathers' fathers' fathers' fathers.
Reg: All right, Stan. Don't labour the point. And what
have they ever given us in return?
Xerxes: Employment.
:
Reg: Oh
yeah, yeah they gave us that. Yeah. That's true.
Activist: And
the technology to transform every aspect of our lives!
Stan: Oh yes...technology, Reg, you remember what it used
to be like....
Reg: All right, I'll grant you that employment and the technology
to revolutionise our world are two things that Google have done...
Xerxes: And the massive investment in construction.....
Reg: (sharply) Well yes obviously the
investment... the investment goes without saying. But apart from the employment,
the technology and the investment...
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