Ottawa (AFP)
Canada will "quickly" implement a tax on digital giants, following the lead of France, which passed legislation this summer causing tensions with Washington, said Monday two Canadian ministers.
"We were very clear that we wanted to make sure that the web giants pay their fair share of taxes in our country," Finance Minister Bill Morneau told reporters.
"It means we will go further," he said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, reappointed in October, promised during the campaign to tax digital giants by 3% for companies with at least 40 million Canadian dollars in revenues (27 million euros) and worldwide sales exceeding $ 1 billion (682 million euros).
This tax, which could apply as of April 1, the beginning of fiscal year 2020-2021, would allow Canada to raise $ 540 million in the first year and up to $ 730 million in 2023-24, according to the Liberal Party's election platform.
Canadian Heritage Minister (Culture) Steven Guilbeault said Ottawa would try to roll out this tax "quickly," without a timetable.
The two ministers discussed with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) the current negotiations for a system of international taxation, saying they hoped for a multilateral consensus on the issue.
Washington had reiterated at the beginning of December its willingness to negotiate within the framework of the OECD and threatened to impose additional tariffs of up to 100% on a myriad of French products in retaliation for the tax on American mastodons.
The French tax imposes the digital giants to 3% of turnover in France.
This tax "Gafa" (acronym for Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple) creates a tax on the turnover of large companies and not by their profit, often consolidated in countries with very low taxes like Ireland or the United States. Luxembourg.
© 2019 AFP