Taxation on internet giants
“Europe has discussed enough about how to force internet giants. Among them, Google, Apple and Facebook must pay more taxes. Now is the time for a decision,” was the French Finance Minister’s statement.
Emmanuel Macron’s government has led a campaign to make companies with significant digital revenues in the European Union pay more tax at the source of their income. Germany has long been lukewarm to the idea. Lower-tax countries like Luxembourg and Ireland oppose it.
“Enough of the discussions. That’s enough of the talk. Enough with the excuses!” said Lemaire in an interview with the Public Senate TV station. “What gets in the way, as always in Europe, is the lack of political will. All the technical issues have been resolved,” he then stressed.
Lemaire has said that small and medium-sized businesses in European countries such as France, Germany and Italy have to pay on average 14 percentage points more than America’s tech giants.
The European Commission is proposing that companies with higher profits from digital services pay a 3% tax on their turnover from online services in the EU. It will, expectedly, raise around €5 billion.
“Voters will punish the mainstream parties in next year’s European elections if the bloc appears unable to stand up to the business giants and protect citizens”, the finance minister said.
“It is time for Europe to decide whether it wants to become a subservient continent … or a sovereign continent,” Lemaire concluded.
If you liked this article on the taxation on internet giants, then you might also enjoy this one.
Author: PC-GR
The World of Technology
