Internet titans AirBnB, Uber, Facebook and Google are set to be hit with new taxes as part of a long-awaited Australian-led crackdown on digital companies. The federal government's digital tax discussion paper, first announced in the May budget but kept under wraps for months, has opened the door to taxing digital assets, used by multinationals to make billions of dollars in profit. Figures released by the Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday show engagement with the digital economy is soaring. Mobile downloads grew by 41 per cent between 2017-18 and broadband downloads increased by 3.8 billion gigabytes. While Australians are consuming more, the world's digital behemoths are based overseas, leaving a perceived tax imbalance harnessed by Silicon Valley to deliver bumper profits. Facebook now has 17 million users, 9.8 million Australians watch Netflix and 3.7 million Uber trips were taken over a three-month period in 2017. Prime Minister Scott Morrison warned in May that he would not wait for the rest of the world to act when he handed down his last budget as treasurer. His successor, Josh Frydenberg, reheated those calls on Tuesday, telling digital multinationals to expect change. "The government remains concerned that some very profitable, highly digitised companies pay very little tax in the countries in which they do business," he said. The discussion paper, released after a three-month Freedom of Information request from Fairfax Media, shows Treasury has its eyes on an interim measure that will tax fees received from Australian customers and an EU-style 3 per cent tax on social media advertising. But the steps are likely to be temporary as Australia pushes through complex international negotiations that will revolutionise the way digital business are taxed globally. By 2020, Australia wants the OECD and G20 to put a taxable value for the first time not just on products that are sold, but user data in a bid to stamp out a creeping erosion of the tax base....... https://www.smh.com.au/politics/fed...-massive-new-digital-tax-20181002-p507bc.html
Titans are where they are because the government condones the rich feasting off those unable to defend themselves. The royal commission into banking in Australia is a current example where it is shown the rich are a protected species. Rip off the rich and you go to jail. Ripping off the poor by the rich and you get a talking to over a cup of tea.
Sorry but I gotta go all conservative on you with this one. How exactly is Google "ripping off the poor"? I'm generally considered a bleeding heart liberal round these parts when I point out mindless ideology on the right. I'll point out that this is the same type of mindless ideology on the left and to be equally condemned. Back to the OP, this doesn't even make sense. First, if you tax social media advertisers you're taxing by and large Australian companies, by and large SMEs. Not taxing the "evil" U.S. tech companies at all! And last I checked Uber is a company that employs tens of thousands of Australians who presumably pay taxes and benefits even more people who ride and also presumably pay the same tax as any taxi rider. Given that Uber loses millions of dollars a year subsidizing their service, at this point it's really a wealth transfer to Australia from mainly U.S. investors, only a moron tries to shut that off!
Google was previously called out by the Australian federal government for employing the so-called Double Irish Dutch Sandwich method, which is the process of funnelling money through other countries from Australia in order to pay a lower tax rate.
By definition they're earning more than their alternative salary, so while I'm not certain of the definition of sweet fuck all by context it appears to mean "better than the best salary the Australian government's economy could provide them"? Not sure how said govt could be against that, or you for that matter?
So you're concerned about Google funneling money through other tax regimes so your response is to tax the Australian SMEs that advertise on Google? Explain how that makes any sense again. Explain how that's "ripping off the poor"? There are lots of bad corporate actors in Australia, U.S. tech companies are the least of your concerns mate!