Multinationals’ tax agility: Facebook friends indeed

ANYONE who clings to the increasingly threadbare we’re-all-in-this-together idea of society, and despite everything that’s probably most of us, will be outraged that Facebook UK paid just £4,327 (€5,840) in company taxes last year.

This tax bill is lower than the one faced by a single UK worker on an average salary of £26,500 (€35,766).

Facebook have done nothing illegal. Last year the company made an accounting loss of £28.5m (€38.47m) in Britain, after paying out more than £35m (€47.24m) to its 362 staff in a share bonus scheme — worth an average of more than £96,000 (€130,000) to each employee. Globally Facebook made profits of $2.9bn (€2.55bn), on revenue of $12.5b (€10.55bn), UK revenues were £105m (€144m).