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France Seeks to Implement 'Google Tax'

by Amar Toor on January 8, 2010 at 04:50 PM

France has never been one to hold back when it comes to taxes; after all, someone's gotta pay for all those pesky little luxuries like universal health care. Now, however, the country of Gaul is reportedly thinking of taxing Internet giants in an effort to save its own artistic Joe les Plumbers.

According to Ars Technica, French officials are considering levying a tax on Google and other companies that advertise on the Internet as a way to help creative entrepreneurs who the wave of digitization has left behind. In a report commissioned by France's Ministry of Culture, record producer Patrick Zelnik argues that Internet behemoths like Google, Facebook, and AOL should have to pay about $29 million a year in taxes, even if they're not headquartered in France. In addition to the so-called "Google Tax," authorities are thinking about taxing ISPs based on the traffic they receive, an extra source of revenue that would bring the grand total of Internet taxes to a whopping $72 million within the first year of implementation. (Google, understandably, isn't too keen on the whole idea.)

Zelnik's full proposal outlines subsidies for people to buy music online, funds to digitize books, and a licensing infrastructure to better ensure that musicians get paid for songs sold online. There are some good intentions behind many of these ideas, but we, like many, think the Google Tax centerpiece is woefully misguided. We understand why France would do this; art and creativity have always been its global calling cards. But allowing artists and musicians to rest complacently on a bed of government subsidies, while the rest of the world adapts to new technologies (and even uses them to their advantage) could drag the French creative community even further behind. It might push it off the radar altogether. Instead of creating what Google's Olivier Esper calls an "opposition between the Internet and cultural industries," the French should encourage musicians and artists to hop on the digital train and embrace the changing tide, instead of keeping them sated with subsidies on the sidelines. [From: Ars Technica]

Tags: france, google, government, internet, music, taxes, top

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