Amazon and Google face new EU tax
Amazon and Google face new EU tax
By Callum Adams September 9 2017, 12:01am
Brussels has stepped up pressure on technology companies
such as Google and Apple to pay more tax, with plans to revise national levies
and introduce an EU-wide “equalisation tax”.
Paris and Berlin are leading calls for the reforms, according
to the Financial Times, whereby taxes would be based on a company’s national
turnover rather than profit.
The initiative is part of an attempt by Brussels to crack
down on tax avoidance by multinationals.
The plan, which aims to resolve the disparate tax codes
of EU member states, will be presented by Bruno Le Maire, the French finance
minister, to all 28 EU finance ministers next week.
EU law requires all members, including low-tax countries
such as Ireland and Luxembourg, to back legal changes to tax measures.
Mr Le Maire’s plan states: “We should no longer accept
that these companies do business in Europe while paying minimal amounts of tax
to our treasuries.”
His reforms have the potential to damage the business
models of multinational technology groups.
Companies are able to declare profits in countries with
the lowest effective tax rates, allowing some to pay little or no tax in
European countries where they have billions in sales.
Airbnb paid less than €100,000 in taxes in France last
year despite the country being one of its biggest markets.
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