The British government on Wednesday slapped a new tax rate on multinational companies that seek to avoid paying their fair share to Treasury coffers.
The levy -- nicknamed the 'Google tax' because of the high number of technology firms seeking to avoid tax -- will come into force in April, finance minister George Osborne said in a budget update.
"Today I am introducing a 25% tax on profits generated by multinationals from economic activity here in the UK which they then artificially shift out of the country," Osborne told lawmakers in his so-called autumn statement.
"That's not fair to other British firms. It's not fair to the British people either. Today we're putting a stop to it."
Osborne had already warned in September that he would launch a crackdown on multinational firms that use complex corporate structures to lower their tax bills in Britain.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2014
