EU prepares revenue-based tax on US tech giants

[FarCenter]

According to a draft plan, Brussels proposes big tech companies should be taxed on overall revenue in the EU and not just on their profits, at a rate of around 3 percent.

The plan is fanning fears of a further worsening of trade relations between the EU and the United States as Brussels prepares to retaliate against US President Donald Trump's move to impose higher tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

The new EU tax plan would target companies with global annual turnover above €750 million ($924 million), such as Google, Twitter, Facebook, Airbnb and Uber.

Smaller startups that struggle to compete with the giants would be spared, as would firms like Netflix, which depend on subscriptions.

http://www.dw.com/en/eu-prepares-revenue-based-tax-on-us-tech-giants/a-43009838

[lapfog_1]

1. as Putin rubs his hands together and cackles...

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[rogerashton]

2. A gross revenue tax is hard to evade

or avoid -- and we should consider imposing such a tax on revenues earned in the states, in place of the corporate "profits" tax, for that reason. Part of the tax might be rebated for, e.g, wages for new hires in lagging regions.

On the other side, to describe these corporations as "American" and frame this tax as aggression against the US is really very Trumpian.

[FarCenter]

3. The headline was straight from Deutsche Welle -- but I guess Trump is half German?