The ill-advised GAFA surtax
This week, Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez declared that a bill forcing the GAFA companies to pay for news content had become his “top priority.” It must be said that this priority is out of step with the reality, since the Web giants are already taxed just as much as traditional companies. Truth be told, in some cases, they are even more heavily taxed. This new 3% tax on revenues is therefore nothing but a surtax on companies that are already paying their fair share.
In the end, it will be advertisers that get stuck with the bill through an increase in the cost of ads on the GAFA platforms, as was seen in France after the implementation of this kind of law. The repercussions will ultimately fall on a lot of modestly sized businesses—a fact that the minister may not have considered.