Why Ukraine fined PornHub but not Google: MP reveals the reason

The State Tax Service has fined Aylo, which operates the PornHub pornography service, under the so-called "Google tax." The fact is that it did not pay taxes to the Ukrainian budget, while other digital companies did so either voluntarily or after a reminder from the tax authorities.

This was stated by the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Taxation and Customs Policy Danylo Hetmantsev (Servant of the People), Forbes reports. He noted that large companies voluntarily paid the tax, including:

• Google;
• Facebook;
• Apple.

"Large companies have registered voluntarily and pay this tax. If they violate tax laws, they will spend more reputationally," said the MP.

He emphasized that the tax authorities see what e-commerce services are available on the market. And to those companies that do not pay taxes voluntarily, "they send letters with a proposal to do so."

"For example, Uklon, Uber, and Bolt taxi services responded to the tax authorities' proposals... Fines are applied in accordance with the law - that's the whole logic. Taxation of non-residents is very complicated. Therefore, the tax on Google is based on the common sense of companies and their conscious subordination to the tax regulations of the countries in which they operate," explained Getmantsev.

How much was PornHub fined?

Aylo was fined $5,543. Hetmantsev reminded that Ukraine is one of the key consumers of PornHub content. According to the resource's rating, the country ranks 14th in terms of views among other countries.

At the same time, he noted that another service that operates adult content, Onlyfans, pays taxes. Thus, since the beginning of the year, it has paid 944.1 thousand dollars to the state budget of Ukraine.

"The company that operates the PornHub website evades registration, which is why it was fined $5,543 and the corresponding tax notice was sent to the company and the Canada Revenue Agency. Every penny of the so-called Google tax goes to finance the needs of our army," the MP said earlier.

As OBOZ.UA reported earlier, Hetmantsev said that Ukrainian companies evade taxes worth billions of hryvnias. To do this, they use various schemes.

For example, they officially sell only a part of the goods and the rest – for cash and through illegal networks without a payment transaction registrar (PTR). And at the same time, they significantly underestimate the customs value of goods when selling "off the books" – in particular, one of the companies sold tomatoes 46 times lower than the imported value.

Only verified information is available on the OBOZ.UA Telegram channel and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!