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Australia: Nation gets its own ‘Google tax’

By  |  December 9, 2014

Australian lawmakers have launched their own plans for a so-called “Google tax” aimed at preventing foreign companies from relocating their offices to the country in search of lower tax deals.

The legislation mirrors similar proposals in the UK. Experts have deemed the bills as “Google taxes” as regulators across the globe crack down on the company’s market dominance and allegedly anticompetitive conduct. But the regulation would not apply to just Google, and several jurisdictions, including the EU, are examining whether foreign companies benefitting from domestic tax breaks are given an anticompetitive advantage.

The Australian Tax Office is reportedly “embedded in the office” of 10 major corporations, according to Treasurer Joe Hockey, in part of a probe of whether the firms pay a fair amount of taxes in Australia.

Reports say Google is among the 10 companies under investigation, though Hockey declined to confirm those rumors.

Full content: Time

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