23/01/2016 BBC Weekend News


23/01/2016

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There's controversy tonight over Google's deal with the Treasury

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to pay ?130 million in retrospective tax for the past decade.

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Labour called the sum "derisory" and they want it investigated

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But the Chancellor George Osborne said the deal was a vindication

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Here's our business correspondent Joe Lynam.

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OK, Google, how much tax does Google play in Britain?

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Google's tax affairs are quite popular search item

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in the UK, especially now it has agreed to pay ?130 million

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of back taxes to HMRC, but there are some who feel

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it is a fraction of what should have been paid.

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I have been campaigning on this for the last 15 years.

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But to be frank, it looks like what independence assessors

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have said, this is only paying 3% of tax.

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Most corporations are paying 20%, ordinary individuals are paying

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I think most people will think this is unfair.

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Google enjoyed sales of ?4.6 billion in the UK in 2015.

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Google enjoyed sales of ?4.6 billion in the UK in 2014.

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Under normal circumstances, companies would have

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Because Google routes its UK sales via Ireland and then

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on to the Caribbean, it pays much less each year

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than this ?130 million tax deal, which covers

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So does Google now accept it has been paying too little?

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We were applying the rules that there were, that was then.

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Britain accounts for 10% of Google's total sales but only a sliver

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Is getting the company to pay more tax merely an effort

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When I became Chancellor, there were some companies that paid

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That rightly caused a lot of public anger.

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Now we have companies like Google paying tax

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and I want the message to go out that in Britain,

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taxes are low and they have to be paid and I expect

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Apple, the world's largest company, Amazon,

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the biggest online retailer, Starbucks, the number one

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coffee franchise are all under the spotlight.

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Facebook paid only ?4000 in UK corporation taxes last year.

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It may take a while to close the book on creative tax arrangements.

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Live now to Davos and our economics editor there, Kamal Ahmed,

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How fair is the criticism of the deal?

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Well, when it comes to tax issues, fairness is a pretty subjective

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concept. I think Google probably knew it would get something of a

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backlash about this agreement, ?130 million paid over ten years is not

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huge amount of money for a company that makes billions of dollars of

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profit year, and would frankly pay that kind of money to most of its

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senior executives. I think Google would point out when it comes down

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to fairness, there are a couple of arguments on its side.

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Firstly, it is an American company and tax law says therefore it should

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pay most of its tax in America, just like the British company if it was

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operating abroad, would still pay most of its tax in Britain.

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Secondly, the European single market allows it to have a headquarters

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where it wants to. It chooses Dublin because it has low corporation tax.

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That, it says, is perfectly legal. Then it comes down to the issue of

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its competitors. Google is not the only controversial company here. Joe

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Lynam pointed out Facebook. That paid ?4000 in corporation tax in

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2014. In that same year, Google paid over ?20 million in corporation tax.

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It will say where is the fairness that it is getting criticism when

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some of its competitors have maybe not yet made a deal with the tax

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authorities. Ten US states - affected

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by the huge blizzard there - The storm is reported to have killed

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at least nine people. Road, rail and airline travel has

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been paralysed along the eastern coast, and tens of millions

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of people have been affected. Our correspondent Laura

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Bicker is in Washington. What are the predictions for the

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next few hours and days? Here we are, 24 hours in and this is the

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next few hours and days? Here we nation's capital on what should be a

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busy afternoon. The roads have been abandoned. As you head the

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pavements, 13 inches of snow has fallen overnight they are expecting

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a further ten inches over the next few hours. There are many more hours

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of this storm still to come. Some attempted to clear

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a path, but there are very few venturing

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out to use it. The President is said to have worked

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from the White House throughout the blizzard,

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as the nation's capital The city's two main airports felt

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abandoned, as over 6,000 flights were cancelled up and

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down the east coast. And those who tried

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to drive struggled. Eight people have been

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killed in car accidents. In Kentucky, around

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3000 vehicles are stuck on a main motorway,

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some have been trapped there for hours in

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freezing temperatures. They tell us we are going to get

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you out of here very soon. Police were forced to set

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up emergency shelters In New York they tried

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to reclaim Times Square But in New Jersey they failed

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to fight the flood during high tide. This is an emergency event

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and we are very much still in our emergency

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response phase. This has been billed as one

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of the worst storms in Washington's history, but there are some

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who simply cannot hide their joy Tian Tian is one of the few

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out in the weather doing his own kind of

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dance in this storm. Well, this is still continuing as

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the snow continues to fall. And as a side, the advice is still to find a

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safe place and stay there until this The Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has

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visited a migrant camp He was given a tour

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of the Grande-Synthe camp near Dunkirk, meeting

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migrants and aid workers. He described conditions

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as "dreadful" and said to understand more about the nature

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of the refugee crisis facing Europe. Johanna Konta has become the first

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British woman to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open tennis

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in Melbourne for 29 years. Andy Murray is also into the last 16

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- but he had to rush to hospital Playing professional tennis

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is a strange occupation. For hours, you are insulated

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from the outside world. Andy Murray is used to that

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and used his opponent, He played in three times last year,

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so knows his rhythms and intentions Sousa is known in Portugal

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as Conquistador, Conqueror, a reference to his

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birthplace rather than his tennis, but he is capable

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of reclaiming ground. In the second set he took full

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advantage of a Murray slump. The world number two had been lured

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into a fight but he is more The significance of this

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blow in the first game Sousa's serve had been broken,

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eventually his resistance Murray finished

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the job in four sets. his father-in-law, and tennis coach,

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Nigel Sears, had collapsed Once Murray found out,

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he visited him in hospital In Johanna Konta, might

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Murray finally have some British company in the second

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week of grand slams? Content is ranked above her

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opponent, Denisa Alitova. Within the first game,

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it was clear who was boss. Konta broke and won

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the first set 6-2. The British number one

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did not face a single break point, so assertive

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was her performance. The second went the same way

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as the first, Some are already calling it the game

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of the season. Trailing three goals to one -

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Liverpool clawed things back - before Norwich made it 4-4

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in injury time. Then this late strike from England

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international Adam Lallana gave the Reds the win -

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five goals to four.

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