The European Union will move forward with its efforts related to a major tech tax reform and is planning to propose such legislation by December, President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker said on Friday. The official proposal should subsequently transition to a draft law at some point next year, the EU chief said, without elaborating on the matter. Mr. Juncker on Friday reiterated some previous statements on the matter made by other officials of the political bloc, stating that the EU is seeking to revamp its tax system in an effort to create an equal playing field for all companies, regardless of whether the majority of their businesses are conducted online or offline.
Many top-level politicians on the Old Continent have been pushing for a large tax reform in recent times with the goal of compelling digital giants like Google, Facebook, and Amazon to pay more taxes. Their largest argument for doing so are some aggressive tax avoidance techniques that are currently employed by various Internet companies in Europe which are consistently shifting their profits to EU member states with low corporate tax rates like Ireland and Luxembourg despite the fact that the majority of their incomes were generated from sales made in other countries. Some EU officials are now seeking to put an end to that practice by taxing internet giants based on their revenues instead of profits which would effectively eliminate their presently utilized tax avoidance methods. Not all member states are on board with the proposal and could veto it moving forward, which is why the Commission has reportedly been considering some more unconventional legislative initiatives, including taking away member states’ veto rights on matters related to market distortions based on one of the EU’s existing treaties.
The effort itself still isn’t supported on a global level which is what some EU member states are currently pushing for, though political leaders of France, Germany, and several other economically strong countries have already signaled that they’re adamant to move forward with the reform even without international support. Such a move could possibly generate some tensions between the United States and the EU which is a scenario that certain European countries are seeking to avoid.