US launches probe into France’s proposed tax on tech giants

The White House is launching an investigation into France’s proposed tax on Internet giants such as Google, Amazon and Facebook, in a move that could lead to US taxes on French imports.

US trade representative Robert Lighthizer expressed concern that the tax, expected to be passed by the French senate on Thursday, “unfairly targets American companies”.

Lighthizer’s agency will investigate the tax under section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 — the same provision the Trump administration used last year to probe China’s technology policies, leading to tariffs on US$250-billion worth of Chinese imports.

The French digital services tax would impose a 3% annual levy on French revenues of digital companies with yearly global sales worth more than €750-million and French revenue exceeding €25-million.

France’s lower house of parliament approved the pioneering tax last week.

The bill aims to stop multinationals from avoiding taxes by setting up headquarters in low-tax EU countries. Currently, the companies pay nearly no tax in countries where they have large sales like France.

The tax primarily targets those that use consumers’ data to sell online advertising. The French finance ministry has estimated that the tax would raise about €500-million annually at first — but predicted that collections would rise “quickly”.

Higher costs

The tech industry warns it could lead to higher costs for consumers. The levy could affect US companies including Airbnb and Uber as well as those from China and Europe.

Bob Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, issued a statement welcoming Lighthizer’s investigation.

“Digital services taxes are an ill-disguised effort to target companies that are thought to be too powerful, too profitable and too American,” Atkinson said.

The administration also got some bipartisan support from the top members of the senate finance committee.

In a joint statement, Republican Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who is committee chairman, and Democrat Ron Wyden of Oregon said: “The digital services tax that France and other European countries are pursuing is clearly protectionist and unfairly targets American companies in a way that will cost US jobs and harm American workers.”