A report released by The Washington Post details how Google has been using secret shell companies to benefit from millions of dollars in tax breaks as the expansion of its data centers across the US continues.

The report alleges that Google has been using a company called ‘Sharka LLC’ to receive $10 million in tax breaks for its new data center in Midlothian, Texas. For this subsidy, Google required both its development agencies and city officials to sign NDAs that forbade them from revealing that Google was the mastermind for the deal. 

Google also reportedly used ‘Jet Stream LLC’ to discreetly purchase the land.

Travis Smith, the managing editor of the Waxahachie Daily Light, the local paper, perfectly summarizes the feeling upon discovery of Google’s schemes:

“I’m confident that had the community known this project was under the direction of Google, people would have spoken out, but we were never given a chance to speak. We didn’t know that it was Google until after it passed”

Unsurprisingly, once the deal went through, Sharka then changed the registered main address to that of Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California.

This situation is very similar to that of Amazon’s secretive bidding process to secure their subsidies for the new canceled New York headquarters. It seems it’s not unusual for large conglomerates such as Amazon and Google to discreetly pursue such deals.

The executive director of Good Jobs First states:

“When companies conduct site location searches, it’s almost always a secret affair.”

When pressed for a response, Google essentially confirmed as much, with their official statement being that these are “common industry practices.”

Although it must be pointed out, that this response does seem quite hypocritical when The Post further writes Google saying:

“We believe public dialogue is vital to the process of building new sites and offices, so we actively engage with community members and elected officials in the places we call home.”