EU: Google boss speaks on taxes and Brexit

Amidst various charges slammed against it by the European Union, Google CEO Sundar Pichai has defended the company, warning of the potential fallout from the exit of Britain from the EU.

Speaking on current tax issues being faced by Google in some European countries such as France and Spain, Pichai said that while his company respected tax laws, governments need to do more to guarantee “better results”—emphasizing that Google invested “very heavily” in Europe where it employed 14,000 people.

The European Union has been throwing the books at Google in the last couple of years—especially accusing the company of unfair dominance as regards some of its products. Last week, Google was slammed with more charges as the EU slammed more charges as regards AdWords and AdSense.

Speaking to Germany’s Welt am Sonntag newspaper on some of the tax charges brought against the company, Pichai said “As a global company, we find ourselves between the conflicting priorities of international tax law.

“Based on the structure of existing tax law, most companies pay the bulk of their taxes in their home countries.” He said his company had not violated any law in the books; short of advising governments to take proper action if they wanted to ensure more revenues remained at home, per The Daily Mail.

On Brexit (Britain’s recently concluded referendum to exit the European Union), the Google CEO said it was important for Google to operate in a “unified digital market” in Europe. Pichai said it was a “challenge” for a multinational company “to come to terms with different laws and regulations in each country.”

“This complexity makes greater engagement difficult, which also plays out in investment,” the Google CEO; adding that Brexit won’t pose much of a problem to large companies who were better able to deal with such issues than the smaller ones.

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