Nothing to do, at least for now, on the Web Tax. In the European battle over the tax treatment reserved for the giants of the network, the northern front has once again won. That is, countries like Ireland, Holland and Luxembourg, which – being real tax havens within the EU – attract capital from companies like Google and Facebook.
In essence, the web giants do not pay taxes where they produce profits because current regulations allow them to shift profits to where the rates are (much) more advantageous. To change the Community rules on tax matters the unanimous consent of all EU members is required and it is obvious that the countries benefiting from this system will never give the green light to the reform.
A European Web Tax has been discussed in a rather intense way for at least two years. There Commission had drafted a proposal, which however was definitively sunk Tuesday all'Ecofin, the body that brings together the Union's finance ministers. To vote no were the representatives of the governments of Ireland, Sweden, Denmark and Estonia. for this time, Holland and Luxembourg they left the dirty work to others. At this point, the EU can only hope that an international agreement is found (even less probable) at the level OECD and G20 within the next year.
However, the European commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, Pierre Moscovici, has decided not to officially withdraw the proposal from the European executive. According to the current president of Ecfoin, Romanian minister Teodorovici, "if in 2020 it is found that the agreement at the OECD level will take longer", as is likely, we could "go back to discussing the Web Tax in Europe".
For the number one of the Italian Treasury, Giovanni Tria, "it is a paradox" that on the one hand the State has to face "the cost" of the transformation of the economy caused by the advent of digital technology, while on the other the companies that have most caused this transformation avoid making their tax contribution.
Is there an alternative to break the stalemate? Maybe yes, but it is not said that it is decisive. The proposal of the European Commission could be introduced unilaterally by individual states (therefore not at Community level). That's what he's already doing France.
- UseHowever, they are ready to fight to protect the profits of their multinationals and have already threatened to appeal to the World Trade Organization (WTO) against Paris and other countries that might follow suit.
“A deplorable aggressive attitude – comments Moscovici – France and the other countries are fully entitled to take this path, given that these are national choices which, moreover, do not represent a hostile act against the USA and are not protectionism. It's just about fairness."
