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Three European Countries Block Tax On Tech Giants (bloomberg.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire's efforts to rally his European Union colleagues around a new tax on tech giants fell short, as countries skeptical of the plan doubled down on their opposition, and others, including Italy, said they'll push ahead with their own plans. Ministers from Denmark, Ireland and Sweden said they couldn't support the tax in its current form, casting doubt on the proposal's future, since unanimity is required to pass taxes in the EU. The plan on the table would impose a 3 percent levy on the European sales of the likes of Amazon and Facebook. A number of countries are already imposing taxes of their own, increasing the risk of fragmentation in the single market. Finance Minister Giovanni Tria said an Italian tax will kick in next year if there's no broader agreement by then. Spain and the U.K. have already announced their own levies.
By raising taxing the most successful companies, you effectively force them to go elsewhere. There's a reason Einstein came to the US, and Hitler was only half of it.
Were they levying a tax on him for every equation he wrote? That is insane! Do we tax physicists less than other countries? Is that why he came here?
We can tax sugary drinks, bad habits, and cigarettes but not the tech Giants?
you can't tax something that can move out of the nation and out of the EU.
Tax needs a captive product/service that has to stay in that nation.
Low taxation is what attracted US brands to parts of the EU.
When the EU places new tax the same US brands will just look for better tax rates globally.
When the only attractive offer to stay in a nation was a low tax rate, don't remove the one thing keeping a brand in your nation.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Irland is running out of money and they agree to pay 2,000,000 euros for EVERY job for 'provided' by Apple.
This is :
The worst waste of public money ever
Or money laundering
You decide.
Different small countries in Europe have always had to have different ways of making a living or find themselves feeder economies to the bigger countries. The EU has provided them with a fairer playing field or at least opportunities to take advantage of opportunities. The tech giants have exploited the entire world's inability to keep up with their fancy tax minimisation schemes. Some of the smaller countries have exploited the resulting anomalies as opportunities.
France has long harboured the desire to get more tax from the tech giants and gain economically. They want to do this on an EU basis, however this is largely a self serving zero-sum game of taking from others in the EU. The smaller countries don't want to do this and point out that the problem is world wide - if higher taxes are introduced on FANG and other tech giants only in the EU then likely there will be fewer tech giants basing themselves in the EU and less innovation.
The OECD is taking a world wide approach to dealing with the issue of fair taxation of tech profits. The OECD intends to report in 2020 on this. Probably this will result in a fairer system assuming that the US would be dictator can be bought off. France wants to change the frame of reference to the EU where they can more easily push their agenda.
Now there will be a battle of wills. France's position is strengthened by Britain's idiotic exit from the EU.
But when your London sales office is burgled or your ware house in the UK catches fire call on the Irish police or the Luxembourg fire service for help.
Don't pay for services - don't get to use them