Digital firms ought to pay ten p.c promoting levies in Germany | EUROtoday

“We consider a tax rate of ten percent moderate and legitimate,” says the Minister of Culture Wolfram Weimer in an interview with the “Stern”. Ten p.c of taxes on their promoting gross sales ought to pay digital firms equivalent to Alphabet (Google) and Meta (Facebook, Instagram) as a result of, as Weimer says, “in Germany makes billions in business with very high margins”, “enormously benefit from the medial and cultural performance and the infrastructure of our country”, however pay little tax and return to society. This is unsolidaric, endangers the number of media and result in monopoly constructions.

This can solely be underlined and really welcome that the brand new federal authorities doesn’t proceed the doing nothing of the earlier visitors mild coalition. To do that, she has to have Weimer’s announcement adopted and actually placed on a corresponding regulation. According to Weimer, he additionally desires to speak to representatives of the digital group about options, for instance, this might be voluntary self -commitments.

He could have the conversations, however it ought to be clear to him that the digital firms voluntarily do nothing for the preservation of democracy. They are world champions of tax avoidance, keep away from their accountability and have sucked out these on whose efficiency their billions of billions are primarily based. For 12 months and day, they’ve been urgent media whose contributions to the digital biotope they handle to take part of their billions of {dollars}.

For their synthetic intelligence that Google has constructed into its search and continues to be engaged on the Meta, they’ve fed up with content material worldwide with out shearing copyrights. Google massively reduces the vary of media by first displaying customers their very own AI solutions. On the Internet of the companies, the regulation of the stronger, which the European Union with its digital legal guidelines, additionally solely will get, applies.

If the companies paid a tax at the very least in Germany (as they exist already in Austria), it will be a begin. The query continues to be what occurs to the cash. The proceeds of the digital tax, in keeping with the coalition settlement, “should benefit the media location”. This ought to be specified: it’s best to profit media which can be excluded from the digital teams.

To design this turns into troublesome. The Federal Government mustn’t expire the concept of ​​financing the media instantly, however slightly the request of the writer associations for a price added tax for press merchandise from zero p.c or a lowered gross sales tax. Unlike his predecessor, the skilled journalist and writer Weimer ought to know what worth the impartial press has for democracy.