Special treatment from the Monster of Mountain View from Her Majesty’s Government:
An agreement for US firm Google to pay £130m in UK back taxes has been labelled as “derisory” and a “sweetheart deal” by critics.
The payment covers money owed since 2005 and follows a six-year inquiry by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.
George Osborne hailed it as “a victory” for the government, but Labour’s John McDonnell said the sums were “trivial”.
Meg Hillier, chair of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, said it was “a small amount of money” for Google.
The Tax Justice Network asserts that Google should be paying at least £200 million a year in taxes. The sum of £130 over ten years thus amounts to chump change for one of the world’s largest and most profitable technology companies.