The European Commission will propose in the coming weeks a tax on digital companies to fund the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), which will apply to hundreds of companies, most of them European. The announcement was made on Friday by Margrethe Vestager, the executive vice-president of the European Commission, Agerpres reports.
The European Commission has borrowed 750 billion euros on behalf of member states to boost the economy’s recovery, and the loan will be repaid in 30 years from new taxes, including on the digital economy and CO2 emissions.
A number of 130 states reached an agreement on Thursday on a tax reform of multinational companies, which provides in particular for the establishment of a minimum profit tax, “of at least 15%”, announced the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) . Vestager welcomed the agreement but said the EU would initiate its digital tax, although he did not say at what level it would be.
The official explained that the EU digital tax has different objectives from what was set at the OECD meeting, and the scope “is wider”.
“While the tax set by the OECD is for the top 100 companies, it targets many more companies. The digital tax will mainly affect European companies, but also others, “Vestager said.