A big new tax for Big Tech

Facebook and Google face a potentially significant new tax, said Felix Salmon in Axios .com. At the moment, multinationals that deal in digital products can “move profits around the world,” shifting them from high-tax countries to low-tax havens such as Ireland. Now some countries want to make it harder for the big players to get around local taxes. The U.K. is proposing a 2 percent tax on the British revenues—rather than profits—of any tech company “with more than $650 million in global revenues,” a clear swipe at U.S. tech giants. Spain, South Korea, and India are considering similar measures. Internet companies say it’s double taxation. But oil companies already pay similar taxes. “If Exxon Mobil can pay a royalty based on revenues, then why not Facebook?” detected the pedestrian six seconds before impact but didn’t activate emergency braking until 1.3 seconds before the collision, when it was too late to stop. The human backup driver was distracted, watching a show on her phone. Uber has now asked the Department of Transportation for the right to resume testing on public roads. It says two people will sit in the front seats of its self-driving vehicles, its software has been tweaked to spot objects and people sooner, and a third-party firm will monitor its backup drivers in real time.