Pay up Zuck!

The Herald reports:

Prime Minister John Key took on Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg about the company’s tax reputation internationally – and Zuckerberg did not click “like”.

Key met Zuckerberg while at a summit of about 1500 CEOs as part of the Apec Summit.

“I was reasonably blunt. I said I thought that Facebook did have an issue in terms of the perception of its tax policy and I thought he needed to change that.”

Asked how Zuckerberg responded, Key said “I think he was a bit surprised.”

“But I don’t think I’m doing him any favours not telling him that because if you think about what’s happening with Facebook, everywhere you go when there’s a discussion about multinationals not paying their tax, people say ‘Facebook’.”

Key even linked it to the election of Donald Trump, telling Zuckerberg one of the things that drove Trump’s election was a feeling the world was not fair.

He said Facebook’s own users could revolt and turn on it if it was not addressed.

In my experience few companies will not arrange their affairs to minimise their tax.