Postimees Digest, Wednesday, February 6
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POSTIMEES:
International exhibitions to get state insurance.
The Ministry of Culture has completed the new Museums Act bill that spares museums from having to pay hefty insurance sums every time they host an international exhibition by introducing a system of state-level insurance. Recent payments to private insurance companies have even been as high as 32,000 euros. The instrument would be made available to state museums and those established as state foundations.
Google and Facebook hide size of income in Estonia
A number of European countries are frustrated with Internet giants providing services and earning income on local markets, while «optimizing» payment of taxes. Google and Facebook, both selling ads to Estonian customers, draw lion’s share of criticism.
This weekend, a debate arose in Sweden, after the public TV-station SVT revealed Google’s and Facebook’s tax payment data. According to SVT, Facebook paid about €90,000 of tax money, while making tens of millions of euros worth of sales revenue in Sweden. Google’s last year’s Swedish taxes amounted to €11,000 with €350m of income – a gap much wider than that of Facebook.
According to the Finnish newspaper Kauppalehti, Sweden’s minister of Anders Borg commented that he has been in talks with colleagues in Germany and some other countries about taxation of large Internet companies. Mr Borg thinks more taxes can be extracted from them in the future.
Estonia’s Tax Board refused to comment on whether the US giants Google and Facebook have ever paid a cent of tax money in Estonia, as the law prohibits disclosure of taxpayers’ data. A Google spokeswoman Gabriela Chiorean, being asked by Postimees if they ever paid taxes in Estonia, replied: «We fully comply with taxation rules in every country we are involved in.» Google would not reveal its profits in Estonia, separately. Facebook left the question by Postimees unanswered.
Captain Klavan: aim to keep Scots from scoring
Captain of Estonia’s national football team Ragnar Klavan said before today’s match against Scotland that top priority is for Estonians to stand firm in defence.
«We need to build it up steady from defence. I’ve no idea of the tactic they will try, but we have improved these past few years and it’s not just a matter of waiting and seeing what their tactics will be,» said Mr Klavan. «I hope we can keep them from scoring and stick tight to our positions.»
While majority of the team trained together in Estonia on Monday, the «full package» only managed to assemble in Scotland yesterday. Among others, Mr Klavan showed up straight from home club. Last night, the Estonians did some training and held a meeting, getting to know the opponents.
«Scots are favourites, for sure, wanting to show off to their new coach – and the fans. However, who wants to lose? So we’ll be giving it our all, to avoid being beaten at all costs,» said the Estonian captain.