Britain's Johnson supports digital tax despite Trump's anger - ExBulletin

Source: ExBulletin

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he would pursue new taxes on U.S. internet giants like Facebook and Google, putting him at odds with U.S. President Trump who has threatened of retaliation against France due to its digital tax plans.

"When it comes to the digital services tax, I think we need to look at how the big digital companies operate, the huge revenues they generate in this country and the amount of tax they pay," said Johnson on Tuesday, according to a BBC report. report.

"We need to fix this. They need to contribute more equitably."

Johnson's Conservative Party has pledged to implement a digital services tax on revenue from companies including Google, Facebook and Amazon in his proposed government if he wins this month's national election.

Under the plan, tech companies that generate at least 500 million pounds ($640 million) in global revenue a year will pay a 2% tax on the money they make from UK users from April 2020.

France's digital services tax, which was set at a rate of 3% of revenue from French users backdated to early 2019, angered Trump.

The United States announced Monday that it could impose punitive duties of up to 100% on $2.4 billion in imports from France of champagne, handbags, cheese and other products .

"We taxed wine and we have other taxes planned," Trump told reporters Tuesday, sitting alongside French President Emmanuel Macron in London ahead of the NATO summit.

"We'd rather not do that, but that's how it would work. So either it's going to work or we'll find a mutually beneficial tax."

(Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)