Google, Facebook and Twitter are facing renewed scrutiny of their UK tax arrangements after a Labour MP criticised the companies' lack of social responsibility and called for them to help fund anti-cyberbullying measures.
In a Westminster Hall debate on Wednesday, shadow culture minister Helen Goodman said social media firms were placing an extra burden on the UK public purse through the workload of teachers, police and social workers dealing with threats and harassment on social networks. "These firms are putting a new and costly burden on the public purse but they are not acting as responsible corporate citizens," Goodman said. "The government can't stand back and ignore this. Ministers need to ensure that [tax authorities] use all the weapons at their disposal and if necessary legislate further to crack down on these avoidance devices."
Goodman reiterated concerns over what she called artificial devices designed to depress profits, referring to the royalty that Google UK paid to its parent company for use of its search and advertising technology. She cited Facebook's UK advertising sales of £175m in 2011 and accounts showing it paid only £238,000 tax, while Twitter filed no UK accounts. Google paid £6.09m UK tax on 2011 revenue of £395m.
Source: The Guardian
