Free Republic

U.S. Senator Ron Wyden has been working with Idaho Senator Ron Crapo on creating a digital service tax somewhat modeled after Europe. Within Europe there are different models and proposals that target different digital services such as streaming, digital products, software, advertising and collecting consumer information. This means Wyden’s proposal could end up taxing Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and Disney+ for providing digital streaming services to customers. This would be an interesting tax question for how it applies to Amazon Prime, which is primarily a delivery discount service that offers free videos and movies as a secondary benefit to signing...

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told her G20 colleagues Friday that Washington is dropping a push for a controversial provision in a global digital tax, opening the door to a likely agreement. The US shift -- part of a broader repositioning by President Joe Biden from the "America First" agenda of former President Donald Trump -- prompted immediate praise from Germany and France, which said a deal was now "within reach" following the US pivot. Yellen announced at the G20 finance ministers meeting that US officials "will engage robustly" in the talks and "is no longer advocating for 'safe harbor'...

A 2% levy on the money major tech firms make from British users had been expected to be introduced next month. It has been strongly opposed by Washington, however, which has said any such tax would be discriminatory and inappropriate. “We note comments regarding digital taxation and will consider this as part of our policy development,” the British government said in its mandate for trade talks with the United States. […] France had considered a similar digital tax, but it agreed in January to suspend down payments after Washington threatened to retaliate with tariffs on French wine. …

French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that his country and the U.S. have reached a "very good agreement" on France's digital tax. Macron said at a joint press conference with President Trump following the Group of Seven summit in France that when an international tax on digital services is established, France will repeal its national tax, and companies that have paid France's digital tax "will be reimbursed." "The idea is that we need to find a joint agreement in order to address joint international problems," Macron said. "And the situation right now is very negative, and the international tax system...