Varadkar opposes Macron tax plan

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar insists Ireland’s tax rate for internet giants based in this country remains “a national competency” and must not be decided on an individual country-by-country basis by anyone else in the EU.

Mr Varadkar made the comment after a one-hour bilateral meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace in Paris, during which Mr Macron specifically raised the need to impose new taxes on internet firms.

At a European Commission meeting in Brussels last week, Mr Macron put forward plans to hike taxes for tech giants such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, and LinkedIn to force them to pay the same amount to a state regardless of where they are based.