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The tax on the digital giants, known as "GAFA tax", will be presented Wednesday, March 6, 2019 before the French National Assembly. Faced with the difficulties of implementation at the European level, Paris wants to be proactive and takes the initiative, as recalled in a long interview to the newspaper Le Parisien the Minister of Economy, this Sunday, March 3. Bruno The mayor is promoting his bill, much anticipated but also, as it is conceived, much criticized.
The tax on digital giants will affect Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple, that is to say the GAFA, but also all companies whose digital activities generate more than 750 million euros, and which have a figure of business in France exceeding 25 million euros.
In total, it is therefore about thirty international companies that will be taxed at 3% on their digital sales reported in France. This initiative makes the Hexagon a pioneer .
Harmonize tax policies
The European Union, faced in particular with the reluctance of countries like Germany, is struggling to adopt such a law . Bruno Le Maire recalls that six European countries are however ready to put in place a similar device or think about it.
The idea is ultimately to find an agreement to harmonize the tax policies of all rich countries gathered in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
But this project, which is voluntaristic, is also a lot of the display of " smokiness ", even says the association Attac , which has long campaigned for the introduction of such a tax. The companies concerned will in fact be taxed on the basis of the turnover they declare.
However, their practices of escape or tax optimization are known. According to Attac, Apple's two subsidiaries in France reported a turnover of less than 800 million euros, compared to an actual figure estimated at at least 4 billion.
" The problem," says Raphael Pradeau, spokesman for Attac, on the association's website, is that the GAFA declare their income in countries where they escape the tax, such as Ireland or the countries "." " Taxing their income in France is therefore a false solution to the problem, " he concludes.
Taxing the #GAFA is a question of #JusticeFiscale, yes.
But the modest #TaxeGAFA proposed by @BrunoLeMaire does not solve the problem of the # EvasionFiscale practiced massively by these multinationals. https://t.co/y3k8Xsblro
The tip of the iceberg
For several years, Attac has taken action to denounce the tax impunity enjoyed by multinationals like Apple. " Multinationals have to pay their fair share of taxes in the countries where they operate. But we really feel that once again, regarding the tax issue, the government is brewing the air, "commented Aurélie Trouvé, spokesman for Attac.
The association therefore argues for a tax that would concern the company as a whole, and not what some subsidiaries can declare in isolation. The 500 million euros that the French government intends to recover with its new GAFA tax appear therefore very derisory.