LONDON: The British government on Wednesday slapped a new tax rate on multinational companies that seek to avoid paying their fair share to Treasury coffers. The levy – nicknamed the ””Google tax”” because of the high number of technology firms seeking to avoid tax – will come into force in April, finance minister George Osborne said in a budget update, reported AFP.
“Today I am introducing a 25-percent tax on profits generated by multinationals from economic activity here in the UK which they then artificially shift out of the country,” Osborne told lawmakers in his so-called autumn statement. “That””s not fair to other British firms. It””s not fair to the British people either. Today we””re putting a stop to it.”
