Search giant Google – known for its elaborate April Fool’s day pranks – was in damage control after it accidentally went through with its latest joke of paying a full tax rate.
The company placed a message on its search page saying it would pay a full company tax rate of 30% from now on, instead of the fraction of that amount it currently pays. It was, of course, just a joke for April 1st. But things turned south when the company’s CFO – who wasn’t briefed on the prank – took it seriously and forwarded millions of dollars to the Taxation Office.
Google is now scrambling to have the funds returned and has removed the message from its search page.
