EU delays digital tax plan amid US pressure

NEW DELHI: The European Commission will delay its plan to put forward a new levy on digital services later in July, a spokesman said on Monday, following intense pressure from the US administration. Some European officials have also questioned the value of the EU executive’s planned tax after the G20 economies agreed on Saturday on a global reform of corporate tax.
The US administration is wary of the EU’s initiative as it wants existing national digital service taxes to be repealed as part of the global overhaul of crossborder corporate taxation. “We have decided to put on hold our work on our new digital levy as a new EU-own resource,” EU commission spokesman Daniel Ferrie told a news conference in Brussels. The EU will reassess the situation in the autumn, he added. On Saturday, EU economics commissioner Paolo Gentiloni had said the EU’s priority was to implement the G20 deal when asked whether the digital services levy plan may be postponed.