Uk: U.S. Hi-Tech Giants Paid No Tax Despite Earning £500m+

<p><font size=”5″><strong>Uk: U.S. Hi-Tech Giants Paid No Tax Despite Earning £500m+</strong></font></p>
<p><font size=”4″><strong>Under fire, the five hi-tech giants that paid no tax despite earning £500m from Government contracts</strong><br />
Microsoft, which took £700m in government contracts, paid only £19million in tax<br />
Oracle, Xerox, Dell, CSC Computer Sciences and Symantec also under fire<br />
Five technology giants that earned nearly £500million from taxpayer-funded government contracts paid no UK corporation tax last year.<br />
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Oracle, Xerox, Dell, CSC Computer Sciences and Symantec had UK turnover of more than £7billion, MPs heard last night.<br />
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Microsoft, which took £700million in government contracts, paid only £19million in tax.Based on its estimated global earnings, this would be the equivalent of paying tax at less than 2 per cent.<br />
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The global firms’ lack of corporation tax contributions were revealed to Parliament by Conservative MP Charlie Elphicke, a former tax lawyer.Overall ten technology companies in receipt of more than £1.8billion of taxpayers’ money paid only £78million in taxes on UK earnings of £17.5billion.<br />
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Mr Elphicke revealed the figures in a debate on corporation tax. He said: ‘We are seeing big business tax avoidance on an industrial scale. It’s unacceptable, unethical and irresponsible.<br />
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Hard-pressed families struggling to get by pay their taxes, yet highly profitable big businesses abuse our tax system.’<br />
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The MP for Dover called for companies bidding for government contracts to declare what they would expect to pay in tax.<br />
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David Cameron has pledged to make a global tax avoidance crackdown a priority of his presidency of the G8.</font><br />
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<img width=”468″ height=”327″ src=”http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/01/07/article-2258735-16CCA8AC000005DC-775_468x327.jpg&#8221; alt=”Under fire: Microsoft, which took £700m in government contracts, paid only £19m in tax” class=”blkBorder” /></p>
<p><img width=”468″ height=”312″ src=”http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/01/07/article-2258735-16CCA7F3000005DC-22_468x312.jpg&#8221; alt=”Oracle, Xerox, Dell, CSC Computer Sciences and Symantec had UK turnover of more than £7billion, MPs heard last night” class=”blkBorder” /></p>
<p><img width=”468″ height=”320″ src=”http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/01/07/article-2258735-16C75649000005DC-409_468x320.jpg&#8221; alt=”David Cameron has pledged to make a global tax avoidance crackdown a priority of his presidency of the G8″ class=”blkBorder” /></p>