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Three European Countries Block Tax On Tech Giants (bloomberg.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the fragmented-market dept.

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.

5 of 56 comments (clear)

  1. Some in the EU understand by AHuxley · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.

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    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    1. Re:Some in the EU understand by Hentes · · Score: 4, Interesting

      There are two reasons tech companies won't move out of the EU. One is the educated workforce, and the other is the data that has to stay on EU soil.

    2. Re:Some in the EU understand by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You can't move selling stuff to EU citizens to outside of the EU.

      Sure, you could have your headquarters on the Bahamas or something, but if you want to sell something you pay for that privilege either via import taxes or via taxes of your local branch.

      > 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.

      Bullshit. The only reason you normally don't do that is because companies can then go somewhere else with lower taxes. Good luck doing that if all countries agree to raise taxes at the same time.

  2. Re:What? by Koby77 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You already tax the tech giants. If there are tech giant employees in your country, then you likely tax their income. And if product sales occur within your country, then that is also taxed. But this new tax isn't about that. Instead it's about taxing the companies no matter where they are located. High tax countries are upset that large tech companies have avoided them, and so they're barely getting any tax money. Some countries are willing to be tax-competitive, and are rightfully worried that if the EU collects taxes no matter where a company is located, then the companies will probably move to some other country, thereby causing the country to lose a large amount of corporate tax.

  3. Re:sounds like the voice of reason by Hognoxious · · Score: 3, Insightful

    By raising taxing the most successful companies, you effectively force them to go elsewhere.

    Let me get this right ... before they were making X and now they'll be making 0.97 X. But they'd rather have 0 X?

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."