I did a Darkstream just last night on France enacting a new tax on the big tech companies to prevent them from accounting their way out of taxes. Now the UK has followed suit:
Britain is on a collision course with Donald Trump today after unveiling a ‘digital services tax’ to grab £400million-a-year more from global tech firms such as Amazon, Google, Apple and Facebook. The UK is pushing ahead with plans for a proposed two per cent levy on sales starting next April targeting online giants with global sales of more than £500million and at least £25million in UK revenue.
Amazon, Google, Apple and Facebook would pay an extra £300million-a-year to the Treasury based on their current revenues, MailOnline has calculated, with up to 30 companies set to be hit.
Britain wants more cash from major search engines, social networks and online marketplaces who use legal loopholes to ensure their UK profits are taxed in countries such as Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands at a lower rate than in London.
These revenue-based taxes are an absolutely necessity given the global nature of these businesses. There is no reason global corporations should be permitted to be active in a jurisdiction if they’re not going to pay any taxes there. And before you get all libertarian-indignant about this, remember, corporations are a) even less accountable to the nations in which they are not based than the national government and b) they are literally government agents themselves.