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Trade Group Criticizes France's Decision to Levy Digital Services Tax

France recently said it would not wait for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to reach a compromise on digital services taxes, and said that it would start collecting taxes on internet giants in December. The National Foreign Trade…

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Council said that's extremely troubling. “Moving ahead with a unilateral DST threatens to sap whatever political momentum exists to find multilateral consensus at the OECD, and to worsen bilateral economic relations with the United States,” said NFTC Vice President for Global Trade Issues Jake Colvin. “This move by France will only give cover to other countries to move ahead with implementing and collecting other discriminatory services taxes, which would fray the global international tax framework.” The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has said it would levy Section 301 tariffs on French imports if the DST is implemented, including on champagne (see 2007130043).