Italy Stiffens Terms of Digital Services Tax in 2025 Budget
25th October 2024
Italy will strengthen its digital services tax as part of plans to raise more revenues in the 2025 budget, Deputy Economy Minister Maurizio Leo said on Wednesday, in a move that could trigger retaliation from the United States.
Washington has threatened tariffs over unilateral digital taxes in Europe such as the Italian levy, which applies to Meta Platforms Inc (META.O), opens new tab, Google (GOOGL.O), opens new tab and Amazon (AMZN.O), opens new tab and has so far raised 400 million euros ($436 million).
A senior Italian official, who declined to be named, said the government had authorised the tax increase without receiving any tacit approval from Washington.
“Our politicians have decided to take a risk,” the official said.
Italy in 2019 introduced a 3% levy on revenue from internet transactions for digital companies with sales of at least 750 million euros ($817.13 million), at least 5.5 million of which are made in Italy.
The government will remove these minimum conditions necessary for the tax to be applied, Leo said, confirming an earlier Reuters report.They see the U.S. government sticking their hands in to Mark Zuckerberg et al.’s pockets and want to get a piece of the action.