Palantir report: Guardian, Politico and other media coverage
Guardian, Politico and other coverage of CICTAR’s report on Palantir
The Guardian, Politico and other outlets have covered CICTAR’s latest report on the US tech corporation Palantir. The report examines how Palantir sets itself up to funnel profits, from European government contacts, back to the US where it pays zero federal income tax.
The Guardian reports that Palantir paid just £2m in corporation tax in the UK in 2024, despite holding public sector contracts worth hundreds of millions, thanks to tax breaks that are likely to reduce its contributions to gEovernments around the world for years to come. And that despite the company forecasting ‘otherworldly’ future levels of revenue Palantir’s effective tax rate is just 1.4% globally.
There has been further coverage from Euractiv, Belga News, Birgun (Turkey) Follow the Money, Eastern Eye, EU Observer, Unison and EPSU with more expected to follow.
Politico looks at the patterns of behaviour, revealed by the report, across Europe, noting that “although a substantial part of Palantir’s revenue is realized in Europe, almost all of the pre-tax profits are funneled to the United States.” It notes also that Palantir is not the first U.S. tech company to draw scrutiny over how it books profits in Europe with Microsoft, Amazon and Apple all embroiled in tax cases with European tax authorities.
Politico quotes Jan Willem Goudriaan, General Secretary of the European Federation of Public Service Unions (a supporter of CICTAR) who noted that companies such as Palantir, Amazon and Microsoft focus on minimizing the taxes they pay, "thus robbing funding for public services…Companies bidding for public contracts should have to demonstrate responsible tax conduct by disclosing where their revenues, workforce, profits and taxes are located."
The Guardian quotes Unison General Secretary, Andrea Egan saying: “Systems that enable tax to be shirked on an industrial scale clearly have to change. The likes of Palantir need to stump up what’s due. Tech giants raking off billions in profit shouldn’t be free to pay what they please. Ministers shouldn’t award contracts to run public services to firms that are starving them of cash.”