Italy declares its "web tax" applicable to any digital service worldwide

The original title is &quot;Italy stiffens terms of digital services tax in 2025 budget&quot;, which totally fits the required HN length. HN suggests to stick as close as possible to the original title, which given that this title does not overrun the length would be exactly this title.<p>Why is the title changed so much? I know we&#x27;re supposed to assume good faith, but in some cases it is difficult.

I haven’t decided yet where I stand on this, however…<p>…As I understand it, the intent of the law is to avoid that large companies book billions of revenues in the country, but then use price-transfer schemes to book the profits somewhere else, and not pay any taxes locally.<p>The net effect of the law on larger internet companies is probably marginal, but I am not sure the law was designed well enough, so as to avoid collateral damage on smaller internet companies

This is mentioned in the article, but it&#x27;s important to know that this is not just some Italian novelty, there has been a worldwide effort to figure out how to tax digital services provided by multinational companies in a way that makes sense and avoids funny business with transfer pricing and other tax loopholes, see <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Base_erosion_and_profit_shifting" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Base_erosion_and_profit_shifti...</a>. The news here is primarily that Italy is not waiting on a big multilateral agreement but has started to implement some of these ideas on its own.

Paying tax is normal for most companies. I am not sure why the us is being the slave of these companies and threatening retaliation. Apparently it wants to be the only one to take a cut (despite money being made from Italians). That&#x27;s extreme. If NATO is a family of mobsters, then this is not how things are done within the family. I know we&#x27;re not supposed to anger the us as they are the best guarantor for European security and freedom but such bullying tactics, effectively making Italy pay a tribute like a vassal state, does make me question whether we can be independent and guarantee such things ourselves.

The current HN Title bears zero-ish resemblance to the Reuters article title. And that article seems to assume a load of prior knowledge.<p>SO - what is the fuss over here? Is Italy doing anything more than say &quot;if you sell digital widgets into Italy, then you gotta pay Italian sales tax on that revenue&quot;?

Revenue (not profit) taxes have a bad history and are generally abhorrent because they incentivize many suboptimal things both in theory and practice. Trying to impose this kind of tax on companies that have no meaningful presence in your jurisdiction, subjecting them to these perverse incentives, is going to invite significant backlash. Everything about this seems foolish and poorly thought out.

&gt; Italy will also raise a tax on capital gains stemming from cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin to 42% from 26%, Leo added.

It is time for the Big Techs financial loopholes in Europe to end.

I am european and I think our countries are in a massive state of decline Slovakia introduced tax on digital financial transactions for next year.<p>As a European I want OUT of this hellhole.

<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.is&#x2F;gyT8t" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.is&#x2F;gyT8t</a>

Success must have a price. Let&#x27;s call it &#x27;success tax&#x27;

If you can&#x27;t create innovation, just tax it.

It&#x27;s a regressive tax that will only be paid by poor people. Rich people will have ways around it.

Europe being Europe. But more importantly, I find it a but strange the countries with growing deficits thinking that raising taxes is the right move towards improving the economic situation instead of restructuring