The Federal Ministry of Finance appears to be moving away from plans for a digital tax. The "demonization of the big digital companies" is "not effective," it says "image" in a confidential paper from the steering committee of the Ministry. "The publicly still vocal statement that companies like Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon would not pay taxes on their profits is no longer tenable."
The tax should be prevented in talks within the industrialized countries OECD, the paper continues. The bill had been signed by Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD).
A digital tax is not only a contribution to more tax justice, but also as a possible lever in the trade dispute with the United States. However, Scholz and Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) had reacted with restraint to corresponding plans of the European Commission.
In order to levy tax on the services of US corporations like Google in Europe, their users could be defined as part of the production. The Federal Government fears that with this argument, German companies abroad could be taxed more heavily - such as car companies, if they sell vehicles in China and India.
The potential revenue from a digital tax for the German tax authorities was estimated by the Ministry of Finance at 600 million euros. However, Scholz's officials reported doubts that the revenue could easily be used as so-called own resources of the EU.
The Federal Ministry of Finance denied that Scholz had already rejected the digital tax. "A determination of the minister or the house on one or more instrument (s) does not yet exist," said Scholz spokesman on Wednesday. His Secretary of State Wolfgang Schmidt wrote on Twitter, the statements cited by "Bild" represent "merely the various discussion approaches and make suggestions for further discussion."