Today, the United States puts into effect new 25 percent tariffs on $1.3 billion in French products. This comes as a response to France commencing collection of its digital services tax (DST) at the end of 2020. The tariffs will target several French cosmetics, handbags, and assorted soaps. Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has said that […]
Executive Summary At first glance, New York faces projected budget shortfalls as arresting as the New York City skyline, and to meet the challenge, some have proposed taxes that would rival that skyline for staggering height. The challenge confronting policymakers is real, though perhaps not as dire as once feared. Its intensity depends on the […]
Spanish taxpayers are facing several tax hikes in addition to the two major taxes—a financial transactions tax (FTT) and a digital services tax (DST)—approved by Spain’s upper house less than two weeks ago. The coalition government this week presented the 2021 budget which includes a 53 percent increase in non-financial public spending from last year, […]
Note: Below is a brief excerpt from our new publication with the Centre for Policy Studies, A Framework for the Future: Reforming the UK Tax System, which is a comprehensive study of Britain’s tax system that identifies key areas for improvement in UK tax policy and provides recommendations that would support long-term growth without negatively impacting government revenues. To […]
Policymakers across the world are currently enamored by tax policies that target digital companies, and there are many policy efforts projects that are currently running in parallel. First, the OECD has been working on an approach that we learned last week is expected to wrap up by mid-2021. Second, many countries have been moving unilaterally […]
Monday, the OECD released blueprints for proposals on changing international tax rules alongside an impact assessment based on the overall design of the proposals. While the blueprints cover proposals both for changing where large multinationals owe corporate tax and designing a global minimum tax, there are still many unanswered questions. The OECD has been working […]
Spain’s upper house passed two major tax bills today: the financial transaction tax (FTT) and the digital service tax (DST). Both taxes will go into effect in January 2021, three months after their publication in the Spanish Official Gazette. The FTT is a 0.2 percent tax on the purchase of shares of Spanish companies with […]
In July, the UK’s digital services tax (DST) became law after receiving royal assent. The 2 percent tax applies to revenues from social media platforms, internet search engines, and online marketplaces. When developing tax policy, lawmakers often ignore the incidence of a tax, or who actually pays the tax. Many times, this is different from […]
Today the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced new tariffs in response to the French digital services tax. The tariffs of 25 percent on $1.3 billion worth of trade would not go into effect until January 6, 2021. The tariffs would apply to several make-up products, handbags, and assorted soaps. In January, the U.S. and France […]
The following comments were submitted to the Office of the United States Trade Representative regarding docket number USTR-2019-0009. Thank you for the opportunity to provide comments on the Section 301 Investigation. These comments summarize the discriminatory nature of Digital Services Taxes (DSTs) which arise from their design. These comments also provide some details on the policies […]