[jacquesm]

This has absolutely nothing to do with IP but everything to do with the delivery of services which are free, supplemented by advertising income accounted for abroad where it can not be taxed by the country where the service was delivered.

Looked at in a different way: if Google was a paid for service you could levy sales tax on that service.

[balfirevic]

But Google earns it's money from selling ads. If they are selling those ads to business in EU, the mechanics (and taxation) seem to be the same as (for example) a US graphic design company selling logo design services to businesses in EU.

What exactly is new here? Is it just the size (and wealth) of Google and similar companies that has encouraged the governments to try to take a larger slice of pie?

[kazagistar]

Companies are always going to find ways to avoid taxes and privatize more profits to fewer and fewer individuals. It's the responsibility of the government to find those loopholes and get them to pay a fair share to maintain the society they exploit for that profit.

[balfirevic]

Thanks, but that is barely related to the specifics of my comment and seems ideologically charged to boot.

[jbduler]

Yes, taxes are related to IP of course. Parking your IP in a country where you have a super low tax rate guarantees paying no or very little taxes using transfer pricing shenanigans back to your home office.