The eternal rivalry between France and the Anglo-Saxon world is about to be enriched with a new, tasty episode. According to what the authoritative writes New York Times, which already in the first sentence of the article signed by the correspondent in Paris Eric Pfanner calls transoceanic passengers "frustrated", François Hollande's country is about to give birth to a new tax: after failing with Depardieu and his associates (the French Consulta rejected the bill to raise the tax on millionaires' income to 75%, try it now with the global giants of technology.
So here are the various Google, Apple, Amazon, Facebook, which the tenant of the Elysée would even like to consider tax evaders, risk having the dreaded "Internet tax" applied, or the tax on the collection and processing of personal data online. The idea was born last Friday, when a report commissioned by himself arrived on the table of the transalpine president, which reveals how the stars and stripes technology giants collect immense amounts of information on their users, exploiting it extensively to personalize their services on people's interests and above all to target advertising tailored to them. The collection of personal data is therefore so extensive as to be linked to the company's business itself, of which the data become "raw material".
The new frontier of the digital economy, therefore, according to Hollande and associates, and therefore it would not even be so wrong to tax even if, as the report itself reveals, "these considerations have little confirmation in economic science and official statistics". On closer inspection, however, for example, Google alone generates more than 30 billion dollars a year in advertising revenue, of which around 2 billion (1,5 billion euros) is in France. Yet, like other American Internet companies, it pays almost no taxes on this side of the Atlantic.
“We want to work to ensure that Europe does not become a tax haven for a handful of internet giants”thundered the minister of the digital economy, Fleur Pellerin, at a press conference on Friday following the presentation of the report. In addition to the nice nest egg that could be drawn from it, it seems that the question interests Paris also because it affects the very survival of French hi-tech companies, increasingly in crisis and disadvantaged by the competition, considered unfair at this point, from the large US groups.
The rate has not yet been hypothesized, even if the Elysee are determined to get serious and to propose the law by the end of the year, despite the obvious difficulties that this entails given the sensitivity of the matter, the interests at stake and also the need for everything to be endorsed by Europe and implemented by international cooperation. According to the report of the Ministry of Economy, however, the margins are all there: the tax on data collection would in fact be justified by the fact that users of services such as Google and Facebook actually "work" for these companies without being paid, but providing the personal information that allows them to sell advertising and get rich.
In the meantime, the first reply was not long in coming. From Cupertino, Google's headquarters, they made it known that they had read the report and replied as follows: “The Internet offers enormous opportunities for economic growth and employment in Europe, and we believe that public policies should encourage growth”. At the moment, however, President Hollande would seem to be more interested in some new tax that will replenish public finances. From Depardieu to Google and Facebook: it certainly cannot be said that he has not tried against giants.
