Spain, after France, launches its "Gafa tax"

Madrid

The Gafa tax, adopted by France last year, is being emulated abroad: the Spanish Council of Ministers adopted a bill on Tuesday to make Internet giants pay. Nicknamed by the media the "Google tax", its rate, taken from turnover, will be 3%, which should make it possible to collect 968 million euros over a year, according to the latest calculations from the Ministry of Finance, recently revised to take into account the " deceleration " of the economy and the results of similar taxes adopted by other countries.

Also read: "Gafa Tax": armed peace between Paris and Washington

Three types of activity are concerned: online advertising, services for connecting customers and suppliers of goods and services, and the sale or transfer of data generated by users. The targeted companies are those whose overall turnover exceeds 750 million euros, including 3 million in Spain. In other words, especially Google, Amazon and other Facebook.

The bill provides that the levy will not take place until the end of 2020. This leaves a little time for negotiations within the OECD which aim to create a global tax and thus preserve the Washington wrath. The Trump administration is threatening to retaliate against countries that impose US digital giants. France recently postponed until late 2020 the collection of revenue expected from its "Gafa tax", in a compromise reached with the United States.

Madrid has also approved the principle of a "Tobin tax", which must levy 0.2% on purchases and sales of shares of Spanish companies whose market value exceeds one billion euros. He expects to draw 850 million euros.