The French President, Emmanuel Macron, has said he’s not going to give up on his plans for an EU-wide sales tax on big technology firms such as Amazon, Facebook, and Google. The comment was made to reporters from Germany’s Zeit a day after the plans hit a stumbling block when the French couldn’t get the backing from the Danish, Irish, and Swedish governments.
In a short remark to reporters today, Macron said:
“I hope that we can agree on the digital tax with the Germans by December. I’m not going to give up.”
On Tuesday, the French finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, was trying to defend the proposals in order to get all the governments on board with the plans. After he failed in that task he offered a concession saying that France would even support delaying the introduction of the tax until 2021.
Ireland’s opposition was likely due to the fact that it plays host to many big tech firms and this proposed tax could cause them to set up operations elsewhere in future. Meanwhile, Denmark cited retaliation from the United States as the reason why it wouldn’t get behind the current proposals.
For their part, the Germans are saying that the European Union should wait for an OECD position on digital tax before moving forward with the plans, and the Irish also agree with this. Only time will tell now if a heavyweight like Macron will be able to sway the minds of those resisting the tax.
Source: Reuters