Google and the state of Michigan are not getting along too well. The state's Treasury Department filed a $3.1 million tax lien against the Mountain View-based company last year.
Details of Google's tax woes came to light yesterday in a report by the Lansing State Journal. According to the article, Google has operated an advertising office in Ann Arbor, Michigan since 2006, where the company works on its AdWords product.
Several media outlets have speculated that the lien might stem from a 20-year, $38 million tax break Google received from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation in exchange for its pledge to hire 1,000 new workers in Michigan over the span of five years.
"Treasury cannot publicly discuss or otherwise disclose information about particular liens," Treasury spokesman Terry Stanton told the Lansing State Journal.
Google's communications and public affairs manager, Matt Kallman, was equally tightlipped.
"We're not commenting on the lien," said the Googler.
The Lansing State Journal reprinted the lien notice sent to Google and it is addressed, interestingly enough, to the company's headquarters in Mountain View, California. A little digging turned up information that indicates Google does not actually own any property in Michigan - it rents all of it, presumably to collect the subsequent tax benefit.
Google's dubious tax practices in Michigan are a particularly ugly PR burden for the company. Google CEO and co-founder, Larry Page, is an East Lansing native and his parents both taught computer science at Michigan State University.
Between the lien, and the fact that Google missed its goal of 1,000 newly-created jobs, Page is probably in danger of falling out of grace as one of Michigan's favorite sons.
