Facebook, Google And Microsoft Accused Of Not Paying Taxes To Poor Countries In The World

Illustration (Image Credit: Rami Al-Zayat / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Technology giants such as Facebook, Google and Microsoft have been accused of not paying their operating taxes to developing and poor countries in the world.

Reportedly ActionAid International, an anti-poverty charity, reported that the three technology giants did not pay taxes to countries where the government struggles to provide health care or basic education for its citizens.

It is known, the tax amount is estimated to reach 2.8 billion US dollars or Rp41 billion. Later these funds can be used to pay for more than 700,000 new teachers or 850,000 primary school teachers.

According to ActionAid, potential tax payments are lost due to the failure of world leaders to implement global standards on taxes that will force multinational corporations to pay more in taxes in the countries where they generate income.

"Little is known about how much tax these companies currently pay in developing countries, because they are still not required to disclose this information to the public," said ActionAid, as quoted by The Guardian, Monday, October 26.

"However, this research shows that billions could be at stake in long overdue international corporate taxation reforms sufficient to transform underfunded health and education systems in some of the world's poorest countries," he added.

Meanwhile, ActionAid global tax spokesman David Archer said many of the women and teenagers are spending money on Facebook, Alphabet and Microsoft which are more profitable for the company.

"(They are tech companies) not contributing at all to public services in countries in the southern hemisphere of the world. The $ 2.8 billion tax gap is just the tip of the iceberg. This study only includes three tech giants. But the money Facebook will pay. , Alphabet and Microsoft under fairer tax rules could transform public services for millions of people, "explained Archer.

For information, countries experiencing this tax gap include India, Indonesia, Brazil, Nigeria and Bangladesh. Unfortunately, the technology company has not responded to this.