WHO HAS IMPOSED SUCH A TAX?
Austria, Brazil, Britain, France, India, Italy, Spain and Türkiye are a dozen large countries which have imposed or plan to impose special taxes on big tech firms.
The objective is to force them to pay taxes where they carry out business, as well as to counter the tax optimisation strategies they often practice.
Generally, the taxes target sales revenue and focus essentially on US firms like Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple, Facebook (Meta) and Microsoft.
But they differ from one country to another in terms of sales that are taxed, with some targeting advertising revenue and others targeting sales of data.
“Most of the proposed or adopted rates are in the 2-5 per cent range,” of the revenue stream targeted, according to analysts at the Canadian Tax Foundation.
Most nations adopted the taxes pending a global agreement which would see multinational companies pay some taxes in countries where they operate, but the prospects for such a deal now look bleak.
