Digital tax plan sent to commission

French finance minister Bruno Le Maire has reiterated a goal for the EU to have a digital tax on technology giants such Amazon, Facebook and Apple, within two years, as a meeting of finance ministers agreed for the commission to present proposals in the spring.

Plans for a digital tax are opposed by the Government because its adoption is widely seen as potentially undermining the Irish corporate tax regime and weakening the attraction for multinationals to base operations here. At the meeting in Brussels, EU ministers adopted a common position on taxation on companies which have been accused of paying too little tax in the EU. Such firms reroute the booking of profits to low-tax countries where they have headquarters, such as Luxembourg and Ireland.