Interesting how this came days after demanding Google (and the others) pre-screen and censor user content. In a country filled with corruption it's very easy to bust businesses on anything.
Notice also how well the corruption index correlates with national prosperity. All the rich Western countries + Japan are yellow/orange... well, Italy and Greece are red, but everyone knows their economy is in the toilet, and I mean even more so than is usual these days...
Incometax department in India is a harlot working for the Congress party government which itself is ruled by an Italian lady suspected to have Nazi and KGB connections in past. Any business, person standing against government receives income tax notice. A people driven movement Indian Against Corruption was also targeted in similar fashion so was Yoga Guru Ramdev baba.
This is India. One of the most corrupt country in the world.
There is proof of the Government's corruption, and some pointers to indicate it misuses the Income Tax department. But what proof can you present of the 'Italian lady's Nazi and KGB connections'? Let us keep discussions on this forum free of innuendo.
India hurts itself more than it can hurt Google with this idiotic stunt. The high speed Internet availability in India is pathetic and so the revenues for Google in India should be relatively very small. But the perception that the government is fucking with Google is very bad for India.
This coming from politicians who are the most corrupt is sad. India is not in as powerful a position as China is to make these kinds of demands. They are stupid enough to try to saw off the branch they are sitting on.
See, that's how they get you. Byzantine laws, so everyone is a criminal (citizen or corporation), and then they can crush you whenever you don't kowtow to their demands.
It's not exactly something to celebrate.
I mean, maybe, just possibly, maybe, perhaps, who knows, Google is doing something deliberately shady and evil here and the government just happened to notice just days after they told some censorship people to sod off. And if you believe that, I also have this lovely bridge which I would like to sell you.
You do realize that they use a similar loophole in the US too to avoid paying taxes, right? India is calling them on their bullshit, whereas the US Congress etc have been bought off. Time to buy the Indian politicians also.
Indian government has designed laws that can prove anyone to be a criminal. Most of the laws haven't seen any reforms since the British formed them. IT is one field that has grown so much in India because government never planned for it neither made any laws. Now things have changed. Government wants to extract rent from every business in the country.
Departments like Income Tax are completely discredited. Given a choice as a citizen I will trust the roadside thug more than a person who calls himself income tax officer.
Even if they really are, its just a bad move politically to take action a week after they got rejected by Google. Given the number of people evading taxes in India the amount they get by going after Google will be miniscule (comparatively).
"In addition, we received a request from a local law enforcement agency to remove 236 communities and profiles from Orkut (Google's social networking site) that were critical of a local politician. We did not comply with this request, since the content did not violate our community standards or local law," it said.
People might related this issue with recent indecent of content supervisory, but I think because of nature of business of google or any other online company who do business over the world there might be some real issue with tax. I am not saying google is doing something wrong but they might have to do things differently.
Income tax department in India in not known to be diligent in any sense. They havent been after A. Raja., Kalmadi, Sheila Dixit , Chidamberam, Robert Vadra etc.
But the moment someone refuses to bend before the mafia government of India they suddenly get active. Very fishy.
This is Govt Of India's pavlovian response to whenever they feel threatened by any entity. Their first response is to slap an Income Tax notice on them. They did the same thing to some of the anti corruption league members when their movement became too popular for govt's comfort. But for some strange reasons they are very protective of people who have stored trillions of ill-gotten assets overseas even though the foreign governments are ready to provide the information.
I haven't read the article but reading the title, something comes to mind instantly - how Google saves billions of dollars by using a complicated structure to send most of its overseas profits to tax havens, keeping its overseas rate at a super-low 2.4 percent.
Speaking from experience, this kind of thing might - just - also be a clerical error. Not so long ago, a place I used to work for got one of these notices because the Tax Department didn't agree with how we had calculated tax. Accounts did manage to sort it out, in the end.
The difference is that Google, if they feel like it, can easily afford to drop a few million on a legal battle like this one. Would that "LOCAL" indian businesses were so lucky.
Google does deserve to get rapped for pulling the shenanigans that it does with the Irish taxation hole.
The timing of this notice is a bit suspicious however. The Income Tax department is one of the favourtie ways that the those in Power decide to get their Vendetta and pressurize those that speak out.
Check out this Income Tax Notice that a popular Anti-Corruption crusader (Arvind Kejriwal) got just days after launching an agitation http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/nation/north/annas-a...
This govt. really has no compunctions using any and all means to get its way.
It fully expects that Google will now become more pliant the next time they request something. OR ELSE...
On related note Income-Tax Dept is lead by talented officers, you may read subtitles on this 4 minute video interview of former Income-Tax Commissioner http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApQlMm39xr0
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[ 3.8 ms ] story [ 62.5 ms ] threadIndia is squarely in the Red Zone.
Notice also how well the corruption index correlates with national prosperity. All the rich Western countries + Japan are yellow/orange... well, Italy and Greece are red, but everyone knows their economy is in the toilet, and I mean even more so than is usual these days...
How could such a large operation in India not make money & a small operation in Ireland take away so much?
This coming from politicians who are the most corrupt is sad. India is not in as powerful a position as China is to make these kinds of demands. They are stupid enough to try to saw off the branch they are sitting on.
It's not exactly something to celebrate.
I mean, maybe, just possibly, maybe, perhaps, who knows, Google is doing something deliberately shady and evil here and the government just happened to notice just days after they told some censorship people to sod off. And if you believe that, I also have this lovely bridge which I would like to sell you.
You're an enabler.
Departments like Income Tax are completely discredited. Given a choice as a citizen I will trust the roadside thug more than a person who calls himself income tax officer.
"In addition, we received a request from a local law enforcement agency to remove 236 communities and profiles from Orkut (Google's social networking site) that were critical of a local politician. We did not comply with this request, since the content did not violate our community standards or local law," it said.
And then the tax notice happens.
Ah! Found the article - The Tax Haven That's Saving Google Billions - http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_44/b42010431...
So, the government assumes Google India ought to be filing more tax instead of the meagre that goes into the Indian Treasury?
The timing of this notice is a bit suspicious however. The Income Tax department is one of the favourtie ways that the those in Power decide to get their Vendetta and pressurize those that speak out.
Check out this Income Tax Notice that a popular Anti-Corruption crusader (Arvind Kejriwal) got just days after launching an agitation http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/nation/north/annas-a... This govt. really has no compunctions using any and all means to get its way. It fully expects that Google will now become more pliant the next time they request something. OR ELSE...
Mafioso Tactics at their best.