Digital tax: Germany challenges US tech giants

Germany is preparing a 10% digital tax targeting big American tech companies such as Google (Alphabet) or Meta. Objective: correct a perceived tax injustice. According to Philipp Amthor, State Secretary for Digital, these firms benefit from aggressive optimization strategies, while German companies are fully taxed.

The Berlin government is proceeding cautiously: negotiations underway with the platforms concerned, and a desire to build a consensus on a European scale, according to Commissioner Wolfram Weimer. But in the background, the debate reveals a strategic concern: Europe’s dependence on US digital infrastructure.

The idea of a digital tax is not new. It has already been advocated by France, Italy and Spain, and an OECD agreement on global digital taxation is still pending. Germany could therefore break a fragile transatlantic truce by acting unilaterally.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz pleads for a joint solution with Washington, but German public opinion and some politicians are demanding more tax fairness. This tax project thus becomes at once economic, political and geopolitical, at a time when the EU is seeking to rebalance its balance of power with the United States in the digital sector.

source: La Tribune