UK crackdown on web giants

BRITAIN is threatening to go it alone and hit tax-dodging web giants with a multibillion-pound levy – even without an agreement from other countries.

The Government’s warning of plans to tax companies such as Amazon and Google comes ahead of a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Buenos Aires tomorrow.

The UK is seeking a co-ordinated response but observers fear that may not be forthcoming.

Google and Facebook have annexed more than a quarter of Britain’s £22 billion advertising market but paid only £37million in corporation tax in 2016.

A Treasury spokesman said multinationals do pay the tax they owe, but added: ‘There is a much wider question around whether the current system itself is fair.’