> The point I'm making is that Google did pack up and leave
No they did not. There is a Google Spain and a Google France. They can't escape the Spanish law or the french law if they have an office in these countries, no matter where Google trully is incorporated, and there is an obvious reason why they have officies in these countries.
So what Google Spain and Google France do is that they pay huge fees to Google Ireland for the use of Google brand, so they never make a profit officially, then the money is ex filtrated from Google Ireland to tax havens.
Google Search and Adwords are not developed in Spain or France. In effect these subsidiaries are just local distributors for a US product.
If Apple sells an iPhone (developed in the US and built in China) to retailers in Paris, should they have to pay French income tax on the entire profit of the phone? Of course not, that's ridiculous, even if the retailer is an Apple subsidiary.
No they did not. There is a Google Spain and a Google France. They can't escape the Spanish law or the french law if they have an office in these countries, no matter where Google trully is incorporated, and there is an obvious reason why they have officies in these countries.
So what Google Spain and Google France do is that they pay huge fees to Google Ireland for the use of Google brand, so they never make a profit officially, then the money is ex filtrated from Google Ireland to tax havens.
But they did not leave Spain nor France.