US to Investigate India & Other Nations for Taxes on Tech Giants
This is after they did a similar trade investigation against France last year.
On Tuesday, 2 June, US President Donald Trump announced investigations into foreign digital service taxes that were aimed only at American tech firms, reported NDTV.
Now the US Trade Representative office is looking into taxes in Britain and the European Union as well as Indonesia, Turkey and India. This comes after they did a similar trade investigation against France last year.
In reaction to this, Indian government sources told ANI, “The announcement by US Trade Representative on Section 301 probe into India’s equalisation levy is merely first step initiation and in no way represents definitive action against Indian government. Moreover, this isn't intimation of tariffs or other punitive measures on India.”
They added, “It should be noted that this action by USTR is not targeted at India, instead this targets policy of digital taxation that has emerged in a number of countries including Austria, Brazil, Czech Republic, European Union, India, Indonesia, Italy, Spain, Turkey and United Kingdom.”
The ANI report also states that this law mandates a consultation with the concerned party. “US law mandates consultation with the alleged party – in this case, the Government of India – hence India will have the opportunity to defend its taxation policy,” the sources said.
According to the NDTV report, USTR Robert Lighthizer said in a statement, “President Trump is concerned that many of our trading partners are adopting tax schemes designed to unfairly target our companies.”
(With inputs from NDTV)
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