PARIS: French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has said that digital companies will pay a special tax on their revenue in the range of two to six percent under plans being formulated by the European Commission.
Le Maire told Journal du Dimanche in a report published on March 4 that a European Union directive will be unveiled in the coming weeks and that the proposed rate of tax will be in the range of two to six percent, although it is likely to be closer to two percent.
According to Le Maire, the tax will be based on digital companies’ turnover in each member state.
“Since September 2017, France is at the forefront of this battle for the GAFA (Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon) to pay their taxes at the appropriate level,” he said.
Le Maire’s comments bear similarities to last month’s reports that the European Commission is preparing to propose that the revenues of large digital companies be taxed based on where their users are located.
Reuters said that it had seen a draft Commission document in which the Commission argued that the tax should be applied to companies with revenues of more than EUR750m (USD924m) worldwide and with EU digital revenues of at least EUR10m a year.
