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The German government is drafting a legislative proposal to impose a 10% tax on internet giants such as Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Meta (NASDAQ:META), Culture Minister Wolfram Weimer told local magazine Stern.
“Monopoly-like structures have developed that not only restrict competition, but also over-concentrate media power, putting media diversity at risk,” Weimer said.
“On the other hand, these corporations do billions of dollars in business with very high margins and profit enormously from our country’s media and cultural output, as well as its infrastructure. But they pay hardly any taxes, invest too little, and give far too little back to society.”
Weimer said the draft bill could be based on the Austrian model. Austria in 2020 introduced a 5% tax on online advertising revenue for large digital platform operators.
The minister also invited Google (GOOG (NASDAQ:GOOGL) management and key industry representatives to meetings at the Federal Chancellery to discuss alternatives, including voluntary commitments.
The European Commission had considered digital taxes on Big Tech to raise funds to repay its €350B post-Covid debt, Politico reported earlier this month, although this was opposed by countries such as Italy and Germany.