Technology giants face European 'digital tax' blow
Big technology firms face paying more tax under plans announced by the European Commission. It said companies with significant online revenues should pay a 3% tax on turnover for various online services, bringing in an estimated €5bn (£4.4bn). The proposal would affect firms such as Facebook and Google with global annual revenues above €750m and taxable EU revenue above €50m.
The move follows criticism that tech giants pay too little tax in Europe. EU economics affairs commissioner Pierre Moscovici said the "current legal vacuum is creating a serious shortfall in the public revenue of our member states". He stressed it was not a move against the US or "GAFA" - the acronym for Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon. According to the Commission, top digital firms pay an average tax rate of just 9.5% in the EU - far less than the 23.3% paid by traditional companies.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 22 2018, @11:10PM (1 child)
The Free Market (tm) is a relatively modern invention.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 23 2018, @01:09AM
The phenomenon known as the "Free Market" has always existed, but it's only been explicitly acknowledged in relatively recent times; the principles have always been at play in humanity's productivity, but it has only been realized, expressed explicitly, and packaged up under the philosophy of Capitalism in relatively recent times.
Truths are eternal; names for those truths are not.