European Finance Ministers Urge US to Reconsider Global ‘Google Tax’

European Finance Ministers from Spain, the UK, France and Italy, have urged the US to reconsider a global ‘Digital Services Tax’, popularly known as the ‘Google Tax’.

The US walked away from international negotiations on how online sales from tech firms should be taxed, yesterday. A joint letter sent to the US Government from the several European finance ministers, states that tech giants, such as Facebook, Google and Amazon, which have become “more powerful and more profitable” over the years, and even more so as a result of the coronavirus virus, “need to pay their fair share of tax”.

However, the US left the negotiating table because the other countries “ganged up to screw America”, according to US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. Commenting on the issue, European Commissioner for Economy Paolo Gentilona stated: “We regret that the US has decided to walk away from talks,” adding that he hoped “it is temporary because Europe seeks a global solution this year”. Although Europe wants the US to return to the negotiating table, its absence won’t stop the EU from continuing talks. “If it doesn’t happen then we will work on finding a Europe-wide solution for this year instead”, Gentilona stated on Twitter today.