Google CEO Grilled Over Using a $20 Billion Tax Shelter in 2017
The BBC put some tough questions to Google CEO Sundar Pichai: in 2017, Google moved more than $20 billion to Bermuda through a Dutch shell company, as part of a strategy called "Double Irish, Dutch Sandwich". I put this to Pichai, who said that Google no longer uses this scheme, is one of the world's biggest taxpayers, and complies with tax laws in every country in which it operates. I responded that his answer revealed exactly the problem: this isn't just a legal issue, it's a moral one. Poor people generally don't employ accountants in order to minimise their tax bills; large-scale tax avoidance is something that the richest people in the world do, and — I suggested to him — may weaken the collective sacrifice. When I invited Pichai to commit there and then to Google pulling out of all tax havens immediately, he didn't take up the offer... It is true that the company generates most of its research and revenues in the U.S., which is where it pays most of its tax. Moreover, it has paid effective tax of 20% over the past decade, which is more than many companies. In the longer podcast interview, Pichai says he also believes that in the future technologies may start reaching even further into our lives. And he calls artificial intelligence "the most profound technology that humanity will ever develop and work on... "If you think about fire or electricity or the internet, it's like that. But I think even more profound...."
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