It was never going to be an enjoyable experience trying to defend Google in front of the Public Accounts Committee following the recent row over their tax arrangements. But the company’s European President Matt Brittin came in for a particularly torrid time as he was quizzed by Meg Hillier today. As well as appearing to forget how much he was paid, Brittin refused to give anything away about the company’s tax arrangements in other European countries. He also got laughed at for telling the committee their Dublin office was set up for business rather than tax reasons. Brittin told MPs when asked about his salary:
‘I don’t have the figure. It’s a salary, I will provide the figure privately.’
Whilst this might not have left Google’s Matt Brittin looking great – and won’t have endeared the company to many of those angry about their £130m tax settlement – there was precious little new information to emerge from the heated exchanges.
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