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Europe Plans Special Tax For Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon (theregister.co.uk)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Register: Bruno Le Maire, France's minister for the economy, has revealed that a plan to levy a special tax on Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon will soon be revealed by European authorities. Le Maire told French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche "A European directive will be unveiled in the coming weeks, the minister reveals, and it will mark a considerable step forward." The minister told the paper that a tax of between two and six per cent has been considered, with the proposal to be "closer to two than six." The proposed tax will be levied on the four companies' turnover, rather than profits. Taxing turnover is hoped to offer a simple way to tax the companies, as all use legal-but-cynical ways to minimize their taxable income. Le Maire added that a turnover tax is seen as being quick to implement and that the four companies know they're going to have to pay more tax in Europe, so may be amenable to such an arrangement.
It's too bad there are no equivalent European companies the US could levy some taxes against. Ala Europe was asleep at the wheel when the Internet age first blossomed. Now all they can do to remain relevant is try to siphon off the profits from their betters.
And we are talking about the clueless Europeans who have taken their national security for granted while demonizing their primary protector over the last 60+ years. The same clueless proles who created an additional layer of unaccountable bureaucracy because they couldn't get enough incompetence and corruption dealing with their own national governments.