The right might love this, and the left might have mixed feelings.
It’s no secret that conservatives have a vendetta against Big Tech, like Facebook, Twitter, and Google. The left, meanwhile, has lauded Silicon Valley’s censorship but they also love taxes.
So, how will they respond to a new UK proposal that would slap a two percent tax on tech juggernauts?
On Monday, the British government suggested that it could institute a new digital services tax beginning in April 2020. Philip Hammond, the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, said in a speech to parliament
“It will be carefully designed to ensure that it is established tech giants rather than our tech startups, shoulder the burden of this new tax,” Hammond said. “The digital services tax will only be paid by companies that are profitable and which generate at least 500 million pounds a year in global revenues.”
Surprisingly, the U.S. government spoke out against the idea.
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin revealed “his strong concern with countries’ consideration of a unilateral and unfair gross sales tax that targets our technology and internet companies.”
He added: “A tax should be based on income, not sales, and should not single out a specific industry for taxation under a different standard.”
It is evident that populists would support such a tax because it would punish companies that want to suppress free speech. This is something that might garner bipartisan support in the U.S.
Leave a Comment