Google and Apple See the Ghost of Future Taxes
France’s levy on the tech giants won’t bring in much money, but it might force others to follow. The companies should push for harmonized EU rules.
Tax changes are coming for Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon, whether they like it or not.
Photographer: AFP Contributor/AFPGoogle, Amazon, Facebook and Apple – or “GAFA,” as they’re known in France – are easy to group together in the European imagination. They’re big, they’re American and they’ve tended to pay relatively little tax, thanks to legal loopholes and a business model that exists largely in the virtual world.
Frustrated governments have tried to use the courts and the hammer of EU regulators to squeeze more money out of the tech giants, but it hasn’t always worked. So, rather than wait for international rules to catch up, France and a few others are embracing the tech sector equivalent of a financial transactions tax (a generic name for levies on transactions such as sales and purchases). It’s a messy idea, but politically it makes the right noises.