Despite its vociferous campaigning last year for levying a 3% tax on the digital earnings of global tech firms, the SPD backed down after concluding that such a move would not be productive.
On Wednesday, Germany’s Bild newspaper stated, the country’s finance ministry has, given up its plan of levying more taxes on internet giants, including Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and others.
According to a confidential document from Germany’s finance ministry the “demonisation” of the big digital companies” was “not productive”, reported Bild.
The move marks the reversal of a key position by German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz who belongs to the Social Democrat (SPD) who had campaigned last year for higher taxes for global internet firms.
Incidentally, the SPD is a junior partner in German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition government.
Since long has Germany been cool to proposals from the European Commission aimed at levying a 3% tax on digital revenues earned in Europe by global online tech firms. Doing so would bring in an estimated $5.78 billion (5 billion euros).
