The Google News tax, and how it’s failed elsewhere in Europe

So the Government’s new copyright law plans to allow news creators to charge news aggregators to use their stories. As part of the media buildup, the Government points to France or Germany, both of which have introduced similar laws recently. As I said yesterday, the new law is nonsense, pure pandering to elderly newspaper editors who don’t understand the Internet for short term political gain, and will stifle innovation whilst not touching the vast Internet giants Continue reading The Google News tax, and how it’s failed elsewhere in Europe

Spain stifles innovation – this new content law is useless.

The government has proposed a new Intellectual Property law that has everyone excited, because it contains what is called a “Google” tax. Note the proposed bit – it hasn’t been voted on yet. We don’t even, it seems, have the full draft of the law, it hasn’t been officially released. But people are excited. Now, the idea is that websites which use content from other people must pay a “fair usage fee”. In theory, it Continue reading Spain stifles innovation – this new content law is useless.

Yahoo! pulls out of Spain! for tax! benefits! goes back to Ireland! (but it’s bankrupt! anyway)

Yahoo! has sent a mass email to all of its Spanish users informing them that “to continue our excellent service” blah blah blah your user contract will be transferred to Yahoo! Ireland. I got one myself. (I use Yahoo!? Blimey. Oh yes, to fool Google.) So if you want to continue using Yahoo! in Spain, be aware that it won’t follow Spanish rules, and you have to abide by Irish laws. You can shut up Continue reading Yahoo! pulls out of Spain! for tax! benefits! goes back to Ireland! (but it’s bankrupt! anyway)

Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook, eBay, Microsoft & Yahoo paid just a million in tax

Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook, eBay, Microsoft & Yahoo paid a combined total of 1.251.608 euros in tax last year in Spain. Not news, after the UK fuss, but it seems to have shocked Spain. They follow the usual protocol of just having a local subsidary to look after advertising, merchants, etc in the country, but booking all revenue offshore. What’s worse, is that they have a very small combined staff in Spain. Meaning that, unlike the Continue reading Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook, eBay, Microsoft & Yahoo paid just a million in tax