French investigators raided Google's Paris headquarters on Tuesday as part of a probe over tax payments, a source close to the finance ministry told Reuters.
"A raid is underway at Google's," the source said, confirming a report in French daily Le Parisien.
About 100 investigators are part of the raid, Le Parisien wrote.
Reports indicate that France is seeking some 1.6 billion euros ($1.79 billion) in back taxes from Google.
France appears to be a particularly nasty place for new tech giants to operate. In addition to the harassment of Google, two Uber executives were put on trial in the country (a final judgement on the trial has not yet been handed down). They were charged with running an illegal taxi operation, commercial deception and violating privacy laws. Soon after, Uber suspended its UberPop operation in France.
Not exactly laissez faire.
-RW
─ France appears to be a particularly nasty place for new tech giants to operate. ─
ReplyDeleteOr for most businesses, for that matter. The French government, together with its Big Established Business and Big Labor cronies has turned what was once a relatively free economy (at least it was after WWII, more or less) into a regulatory nightmare.