WASHINGTON/BERLIN — Finance officials from the Group of 20 major economies on Saturday vowed to resolve major differences over taxing big tech companies and reach a broad, consensus-based solution on international taxation this year. The United States has been at loggerheads over the issue with Britain, France and other key allies, who have adopted or are considering digital service taxes as a way to raise revenue from the local operations of big tech companies. Critics say those firms profit enormously from local markets while making only limited contributions to public coffers, but Washington contends the taxes discriminate against U.S. tech firms such as Google, Facebook and Apple Inc. The Trump administration this month ratcheted up pressure on France over its 3% digital services tax, saying it would impose additional duties of 25% on French imports valued $1.3 billion but would hold off on implementing the move while talks continued in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Source: International New York Times July 18, 2020 19:18 UTC