ITIF Speaks Out Against France’s Digital Tax, Encourages Multilateral OECD Efforts

WASHINGTON—The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), the leading think tank for science and technology policy, today announced its disapproval of the French government’s decision to implement a “digital tax” at the end of this month. ITIF released the following statement from Senior Fellow Joe Kennedy:

The claims that digital companies are undertaxed or that the digital economy can be ring-fenced and subject to different tax rules than the rest of the economy have both been discredited. Further, France’s unilateral tax violates numerous tax treaties. Unilateral efforts are unwise, especially in the midst of the OECD’s multilateral efforts to tackle base erosion and profit shifting. The OECD is scheduled to issue a final report in 2020. That effort is the proper way to seek changes to the international agreements on the taxation of multinational companies.

For additional background:

• Op-ed for Fox Business: Europe's Assault on American Internet Companies Escalating
• Letter to the Editor of the Wall Street Journal: Europeans Not Giving Up On Internet Taxes
• Blog post for ITIF’s Innovation Files: Resist Unilateral EU Efforts to Change International Tax Law for Corporations