CEOs Plead With EU Not to Impose Tech Tax

CEOs from some of Europe’s largest tech companies have urged European governments not to adopt a tax on digital revenues, according to Bloomberg.

The proposed levy would “create a harmful legal precedent of taxing revenues over profits, even when the taxpayer is not yet profitable,“ according to a copy of the letter to the European Union’s finance ministers. The letter was signed by the CEOs of Booking.com, Spotify, Zalando, Allegro.pl, Supercell and Takeaway.com.

The bloc has been unable to reach agreement on a proposed 3 percent levy on the European sales of tech companies, amid persistent resistance from countries including Sweden, Ireland and the Netherlands. Even a watered down version of the tax, targeting only advertising, has struggled to garner support, as governments mull how to strike a balance between luring business and addressing popular discontent about companies not paying their fair share.

Austria, one of the leading advocates, has gone ahead with its own domestic proposal, and other proponents of the levy, including Italy and France vowed to do the same. Traditional tax systems have so far failed to capture revenue from companies with global reach but limited physical presence, fueling anger from voters disgruntled after years of austerity and meager wage growth.

The planned levy would “impose a financial burden on burgeoning European companies and weaken their ability to compete globally,“ and “result in double taxation, particularly when charged on EU resident companies’ revenues, which are already subject to corporate income tax and VAT in Europe,“ according to the letter. Critics of the levy have argued that the tax risks triggering the ire of U.S. President Donald Trump in the midst of a transatlantic trade spat, as most of the affected companies would be U.S-based. The signatories of letter complain that any tax would “risk retaliatory or copycat action from third countries, including adverse and arbitrary taxes on European businesses’ turnover in those jurisdictions.“