France did not care about the threats of US President Donald Trump and decided to tax the world's biggest technology companies.
PARIS (Reuters) – France on Thursday became the first major economy to decide to tax major technology companies after parliament finally approved the move in defiance of a probe ordered by President Donald Trump and may be reciprocated, AFP reported.
The United States said on Wednesday it had opened an investigation into the effects of a single tax levied by France on Internet giants. The first country to take this step is awaiting an international agreement on taxing Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, R & B, Entgram and Cretio.
Economy Minister Bruno Lemerre told senators: "We can not be threatened by either America or others, but as allies we can settle our differences in a way other than the threat."
He stressed that this is the first time in the history of relations between the United States and France, in which the US administration decides to open an investigation under an article in the Trade Act known as "Section 301".
"I would like to reiterate to our American allies that this should be an encouragement to them to accelerate business to find an international tax solution for digital companies at the level of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and to conclude agreements rather than threats."
The tax will bring in institutions that have a turnover of more than 750 million euros in the world, including 25 million euros, thanks to French users.
The idea is to impose a tax of 3% of the number of works done in France, especially through electronic advertising and the sale of data for advertising purposes.
"This new law is not economically complete since it imposes a tax on the number of businesses, not profits, and the complexity of its application in many ways should be considered a temporary solution pending a multilateral decision," the Senate Finance Committee said.
The left sees the tax as a step in the right direction, but it remains insufficient.
This tax, announced by Macron at the end of 2018 at the height of the "yellow jackets" crisis, will contribute to the financing of economic and social emergency measures of 10 billion euros.
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