EU Plans to Tax 2%-6% of Tech Giants' Sales, Le Maire Tells JDD

(Bloomberg) -- The European Union will unveil a directive within weeks on taxing between 2 percent and 6 percent of big technology companies' revenue, French economy minister Bruno Le Maire said in an interview with the weekly newspaper Journal du Dimanche.

"It will be closer to 2 percent than 6 percent," Le Maire told the paper, saying the EU directive is a starting point that will be refined. "I prefer an applicable text very quickly rather than endless negotiations," he said.

The European Commission is considering the tax on revenue as it's easier than focusing on earnings, given the different rules between countries. EU countries have been looking into methods to tax companies like Amazon.com Inc., Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google in a way that captures the true value created in the region.

To read more about the Commission's draft proposal, click here.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alexandre Boksenbaum-Granier in Paris at aboksenbaumg@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rebecca Penty at rpenty@bloomberg.net, Keith Campbell, Brian Lysaght

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