France's former digital affairs minister proposed filing an amendment to the French budget bill to require internet companies, such as Amazon.com Inc., Alphabet Inc., Microsoft Corp., Facebook Inc. and Apple Inc., to disclose their profits in the country, Bloomberg News reported, citing an interview.
Mounir Mahjoubi, who served in President Emmanuel Macron's administration until March, may submit the proposed changes to the said bill to help the government collect the correct amount of levies under the digital tax. French lawmakers are expected to begin discussions on the bill Sept. 27.
Mahjoubi calculated that the French government could raise €1 billion annually, although the French government estimated it could raise about €400 million this year and about €650 million in 2022. The government will publish its estimated collections from the levy at the end of 2019.
In July, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative launched an investigation into France's plan to implement 3% digital services tax on tech companies earning at least €750 million in global annual revenue and €25 million annually in France.
In a move to fight back against the French digital tax, internet companies Amazon, Facebook and Google testified against the French digital services tax in a hearing last month, saying that the policy to tax revenue on certain services for French users unfairly targets large U.S. tech companies.
French President Emmanuel Macron said that his country's digital tax will be eliminated once an international digital services policy is created.
