Digital tax on large companies
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced that he plans to impose a tax on large internet and technology companies. Among them, Amazon, Google and Facebook will stop years of blatant tax evasion. The European Union is proposing a new Community levy on large internet companies such as Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon. Such companies usually resort to various tricks to avoid paying their taxes.
“It is absolutely fair that the internet giants pay their fair share of taxes in Europe,” Sebastian Kurz said in a statement. “In addition to the move at the European Union level, we will also act at the national level, thus introducing a new digital tax in Austria. Kurz said EU member states “almost unanimously agree that there is a need for such a tax.”
The Finance Minister of Austria, Hartwig Loger, is already in the process of working out the details and implementation of the new digital tax. He will present a basic framework to the Austrian Parliament during their first plenary session in January. “The goal is clear. Tax companies that generate huge profits online, such as Facebook or Amazon. As is customary they pay almost no tax in the countries where they operate,” Sebastian Kurz said.
“In addition to the tax on direct sales, France will also require companies to pay a levy on advertising revenues, and the resale of private data,” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire announced earlier this month. Under European Union law, US companies have the right to declare their income in any member state they wish. They tend to choose low-tax countries like Ireland or the Netherlands.
These companies pay a levy of 9%, this is far less than what other companies have to pay on average (23%). The European Union is trying to prevent unfair competition by stopping this situation because it is small and medium-sized enterprises that are paying the price.
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Author: PC-GR
The World of Technology
