• Web Tax, Zuckerberg ready to pay more taxes outside the US
  • Mnuchin in Davos: web tax is discriminatory, ready for duties on cars
  • Gentiloni: on the web tax if the OECD does not move, the EU will

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June 18, 2020 "I deeply regret the US decision to curb international discussions on taxing the digital economy. I hope this will be a temporary setback and not a definitive stop." But if a global understanding is not found this year "we have been clear that we will move forward with a new proposal at EU level". So the EU Commissioner for Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, replies to the statements of the American Secretary of the Treasury, Steven Mnuchin.

Brussels 'position expressed by Gentiloni comes in the aftermath of the United States' decision to suspend negotiations on the OECD web tax, adopted yesterday by the US administration. Mnuchin has announced to the finance ministers of France, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, the countries most active in the taxation legislation for digital giants such as Google, Amazon or Facebook, the suspension of ongoing negotiations within the OECD.

A real slap that of the USA to the EU. With his letter, the secretary to the US Treasury said that the discussions have stalled, that there is no basis even for an interim agreement and that, basically, the US has no time to waste on the matter. The letter, according to the Financial Times, is dated June 12. "Trying to hurry on these kinds of discussions is a distraction from far more important issues," is Mnuchin's dry claim, reiterating the threat of reprisals if someone were to unilaterally impose a 'digital tax' on US tech giants. "This is a phase in which governments around the world should focus on managing the economic spillovers of Covid-19, Mnuchin says. In the letter, according to the newspaper, the US exponent would instead be more likely on the hypothesis of creating a minimum global corporate taxation by the end of the year.

France: it is a provocation
"I confirm that with my Italian, Spanish, British counterpart, we received a letter from the American Secretary for the Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, in which he confirms that they do not want to continue the OECD negotiations on digital taxation. This letter is a provocation ": French Minister of Economy Bruno LeMaire, interviewed on the microphones of France Inter, thundered against Washington's decision and assured that in any case also in 2020 in France there will be a tax on the web giants like in 2019.