Details sought on plans for Digital Tax
DETAILS on any Government plans to introduce a Digital Tax were sought in the Dáil by Labour Party leader Brendan Howlin. There may be no OECD solution and many individual countries are planning unilaterally to introduce such a tax, he said.
‘The UK announced in the previous budget the introduction of a 2% digital services tax,’ he said.
‘Spain and Italy are pursuing their own measure and France and Germany have proposed a levy from 2020.
‘This is a tax on the turnover of multinationals. It is coming down the tracks and will either be introduced by agreement across the OECD, which it is hoped will be the case, or it will be done unilaterally.’
In reply, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the Government certainly is concerned about Digital Tax in the context of our sovereignty.
‘Our view is that tax is a national competence and we would not like a Digital Tax to lead to other proposals such as a common consolidated corporate tax base, CCCTB, which we do not support. That said, ours is not an absolutist position.’