Germany Eyes 10% Digital Tax on Global Tech Groups
31st May 2025
The Financial Times, a Voice of the Crust.
The Financial Times is the British equivalent of the Wall Street Journal – if the Wall Street Journal were run by the staff of Mother Jones.
The German government is drawing up plans for a 10 per cent tax on global internet groups such as Meta and Google in a move that could further fuel transatlantic trade tensions.
Germany’s federal commissioner for media and culture, Wolfram Weimer, told Stern magazine on Thursday that the new government was drafting a digital levy on global internet platforms, although alternatives such as a voluntary commitment by the affected tech companies to pay more tax in Germany were also still under consideration.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s centre-left coalition agreed to “evaluate” a tax on internet platforms in its treaty signed in early May, agreeing that the proceeds should be used to strengthen the country’s media landscape.
It ought to come as no surprise that the first concern of any government is “Can we tax this?” Unspoken is how they are going to enforce this tax – Google and Meta aren’t German companies, and if they get seriously annoyed they’ll just remove any physical presence from Germany (or its running dogs) and they can whistle for their money.
From what I’ve seen, there is no ‘centre’ in this alleged ‘centre-left coalition’.