From Google:
The BBC's director general, Tony Hall, has defended his company taking at least £3bn in UK license fee tax revenue.
His comments came after a lot of TV viewers denounced the BBC - who take a fortune from people, as "immoral".
In an interview to be broadcast on Google+, Mr Hall said his firm spent lots of money on their staff.
He conceded that "Britain has been a very good market for us".
"We pour literally billions of pounds into the pockets of our pals, making 2nd rate shows and so forth" he said.
"And we're a key part of the establishment in Britain, which is holding back economic growth"
He added that the BBC were uniquely funded, which means they can make all sorts of stuff like errr.. David Attenbourough, yeah, that's the ticket.
He conceded that "Britain has been a very good market for us".
"We pour literally billions of pounds into the pockets of our pals, making 2nd rate shows and so forth" he said.
"And we're a key part of the establishment in Britain, which is holding back economic growth"
He added that the BBC were uniquely funded, which means they can make all sorts of stuff like errr.. David Attenbourough, yeah, that's the ticket.
4 comments:
Ah, David Attenborough, the genocidal maniac. Why do we fund his ramblings? Can't we cut out the middleman and fund Assad or Al Qaeda instead?
Outrageous levity.
We do not maintain tax havens on our sovereign territory so that mere tradesmen can avoid taxes! Jersey and Gurnsey, precious national resources both, are specifically reserved for the better class of city gentlemen and old Etonian who might find themselves embarrassed by impudent demands from the taxman. It is outrageous that mere parvenus, some of whom even provide a useful service to the British public, should abuse our precious tax havens for their own gain. Eric Schmidt, a man with no breeding whatsoever, should apologise for acting above his station.
DEC, agreed.
We could easily imagine a world in which Google paid $x billion in taxes to various governments, who then club together to pay Google $x billion to do all the useful stuff of general benefit like Google maps, search engine etc etc.
NB, if it is true that G has 2,000 employees in the UK, then that alone generates about £200 million in PAYE, with unknown amount of Business Rates on top. Dunno about VAT.
The problem is that Google can move anywhere, operate from anywhere.
And they have lots of the sort of young, elite developers who will simply move with Google, because it is the place that young, elite developers kill to work for.
But at least if they're here, they're renting offices, employing people to fix the aircon, sort out the network cabling, do the catering for events and so forth.
It's like Northamptonshire (where I'm from). There's lots of old businesses in places like Rothwell that used to be tanners. They produced the leather that was used by the shoemakers in Northampton. When shoemaking (mostly) left the area, those towns became pretty poor overnight.
Post a Comment