Joel Trenaman: As the U S Congress moves to curb its power, Big Tech remains one step ahead nationalpost.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nationalpost.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Beneath the spending spree found in last week’s federal budget, there was at least one small attempt to offset those expenditures with some new revenue: a planned three per cent digital services tax that the government hopes to levy on billion-dollar tech companies. It could turn out to be a meaningful move to bring tax-avoidant international tech conglomerates to heel, or an empty attempt at wringing some money out of nearly unrestrainable businesses that happen to be an easy target politically. Based on the complex factors at play, I’d bet on the latter.
Budget 2021 pledged to ensure “that digital service providers pay their fair share of taxes,” which is apparently thought to be three per cent on “revenue from digital services that rely on data and content contributions from Canadian users.”