The European Union will not continue to work on the digital tax

The European Union will not continue to work on the introduction of the so-called digital tax and will focus its efforts on finalizing the global tax reform that was approved over the weekend by representatives of the world's largest G20 economies. The European Commission announced it on Monday. The plan to additionally tax Internet giants such as Facebook, Apple and Google has faced sharp criticism in the US. At a meeting in Venice, the finance ministers of the world's twenty main economies approved a revision of international taxation, including a 15 percent minimum corporate tax, in order to discourage multinational companies from shifting profits to tax havens. The countries associated in the G20 make up more than 80 percent of the world economy. Washington also supports tax reform. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Saturday's agreement would end "destructive international tax competition." The implementation of the agreement, which is expected from the beginning of 2023, will depend on steps at national level. The second part of the international tax revision plan is to allow countries to tax part of the profits of companies that make profits in their territory without a physical presence, for example through retail sales via the Internet or digital advertising. This issue began to be addressed after France and later other countries imposed a digital services tax on US technology giants such as Amazon and Google. However, under the tax agreement, these countries will have to abolish the national digital tax and replace it with a single global approach.