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France Will Tax Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon In New Year (qz.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Quartz: France won't wait on the rest of the European Union to start taxing big tech. French finance minister Bruno Le Maire says the country will move ahead with a new tax on Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon starting Jan. 1, 2019. The tax is expected to raise $570 million in 2019. France and Germany had originally pushed for an EU-wide 3% tax on big tech firms' online revenues, in part to prevent companies like Apple from sheltering their profits in countries with the lowest tax rates. The deal, which required the support of all 28 EU states, appeared to crumble earlier this month, with opposition from countries including Ireland, home to the European headquarters of Google and Apple.
France and Germany attempted to salvage the deal by scaling it back to a 3% tax on ad sales from tech giants. That would effectively limit the tax to Google and Facebook, excluding companies like Airbnb and Spotify that might have been harder hit under the initial proposal. In the meantime, France is moving ahead with its own tax on Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon, which are collectively known in the region as GAFA. "The tax will be introduced whatever happens on 1 January and it will be for the whole of 2019 for an amount that we estimate at [$570 million]," Le Maire said at a press conference in Paris, the Guardian reported today (Dec. 17).
France and Germany attempted to salvage the deal by scaling it back to a 3% tax on ad sales from tech giants. That would effectively limit the tax to Google and Facebook, excluding companies like Airbnb and Spotify that might have been harder hit under the initial proposal. In the meantime, France is moving ahead with its own tax on Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon, which are collectively known in the region as GAFA. "The tax will be introduced whatever happens on 1 January and it will be for the whole of 2019 for an amount that we estimate at [$570 million]," Le Maire said at a press conference in Paris, the Guardian reported today (Dec. 17).
I think that is what they may want. Europe in general has been lagging behind the United States in terms of online services. Most of EU biggest tech companies are Industrial Technology (Siemens, Phillips, etc...) The Consumer Technology companies have a hard time competing against the Facebook, Amazon and Google. Primarily because they are so big, they can offer so many services so cheap that new competition will need boat loads of money to even be a threat. So making these products more expensive, it will open the door slightly enough to get their foot in.
We are in a time of a renewed sense of nationalism (Which I don't think is a good thing). But not just the United States, but every freakin country in the world seems to doubling down, protecting what they have, and preventing the "other" from coming in either physically, or with taxes and extra rules.
I expect this comes from the last Recession, because of the countries interconnection in trade that means stupid stuff done in America or China which you as a citizen has no control over, will affect your lively hood, and your countries economy. Now this works both ways, when the other countries does something good, you will also get its benefit as well. But the world is kinda feeling the pain from the last recession, and trying to lock out those "others" out.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Bullshit.
You do business in a country, you pay tax in that country. Period.
Companies have been allowed to play shell games with where they claim the revenue is earned so they can pay as little tax as possible. But you can guarantee Google is making money off people in countries they aren't paying tax in.
The real wealth redistribution handbook is the bullshit playbook which makes sure the rich get richer, and the rest of us get poorer. It's time to stop following the unbridled capitalism wealth redistribution playbook, and stop making companies pay taxes.
The problem we have now is companies get to game the system and claim to not be making revenue from places when they clearly are.
Being a corporation isn't magical, and neither is being an American corporation. You do business there, you pay taxes there. None of those "oh, we don't have to pay taxes here" bullshit.
You fools! This won't be used to reduce the borrowing even a little bit. It will just be spent and the same amount of borrowing will occur!
Quit blaming companies when the problem is your voracious spending and voting habits!
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Force tax-cheating companies to cut their "but it is leeeegal"-bullshit and compete on equal terms as local companies.
Longterm, make EU close the loopholes that only profits big companies.
Any company that don't pay tax will of course be more successful than a company that has to pay tax.
So making these products more expensive, it will open the door slightly enough to get their foot in.
So Trump proposes tariffs to do the same thing and it is the most irresponsible idiotic thing any leader has ever proposed.
A socialist does it because his groups of friends has so destroyed the French economy they are desperate to get more money, and NOW its a smart idea?
That what you can love about progressives. They don't care if the idea is good or not, it only matters who proposes it.
They are not taxing the US at all. These corporation make money in France and pay very little tax there. It's not fair, and this new tax is a good starting point. These corporations will be free to avoid France if they don't like the tax.
They're going after them because they have money, and France needs money. Don't confuse the reason with the sales pitch. Meh, I guess if you look at this as a tariff on digital goods, it's a fairly normal thing for a government to do.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Progressive lies.
Gets called out and told the truth.
Progress repeats SAME lie pretending he didn't get called out.
Gets called out second time for lying.
Progressive then gets upset and calls other people names for being called a liar twice for same lie and can't refute it.
And progressives are not sociopaths? You are a moron.