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On 12th Feb 12 I wrote a post - Paying your fair share – about the tiny amounts of corporation tax that such companies as FaceBook, Google, Microsoft and Oracle pay in the UK. I contrasted this to the contribution to the Exchequer made by UK-HQed companies like ARM and Logica. I also gave special mention to HP UK who are turning into a ‘model’ UK ‘good neighbour’ in many ways as I learnt at a meeting with Nick Wilson last week.
Over the weekend new revelations have emerged about Apple UK. Despite revenues of £7.6b from the UK market over the last 3 years, Apple managed their tax affairs so well that they paid just £10.3m in Corporation Tax. Last week it was reported that Amazon are facing an investigation from HMRC after paying no tax at all on its £8b UK sales over the last 3 years.
The reaction to my last post on the subject (See Paying your fair share – reaction) was pretty much universally that it didn’t matter. What mattered most was that these companies were here generating jobs and providing other benefits to UK plc. Also, these companies invest in IPR in the US and therefore are right to inflict ‘IPR-type’ charges on overseas subsidiaries in order to reduce their tax liabilities.
That just strengthens the argument that what we need are more IPR-rich companies (like ARM) HQed in the UK. That’s just ‘win-win’ for all of us.
But we should also remember that the revenues that such companies as Google, Facebook and Amazon in particular make in the UK take away revenues from UK local newspapers and UK retailers – both of which tend to pay their taxes here. Clearly I want the likes of Apple here in the UK but they should be like HP and understand that they should be ‘good neighbours’ too. And part of that means shouldering your fair share of UK taxes too which, afterall, are there to pay for the infrastructure that you and your customers ‘enjoy’.
