France considers Google tax

The French government is today considering a move which would introduce a tax on online advertising revenues, and is once again pitting itself head to head with internet giant Google. The government is proposing that such a levy could be used to combat online fraud and illegal downloading – or perhaps be used to pay legal producers of copyrighted works.

Google tax

France and Google do not have a harmonious past, with a previous war of words still raging over Google’s attempt to digitize the world’s books. The French government were instrumental in the defeat of the American firm in their courts, and warned them that there would be stuff penalties imposed if they were found to be breaking people’s or firms’ copyright.

Google commented that the proposed law would slow down innovation, and said that instead of considering new taxes, the officials should encourage businesses to investigate new business models and ways of monetizing their content.

Google has already undertaking a ground-breaking project in China, making available huge amounts of music online for free, funded by advertising. This project has the blessing of the copyright owners, due to the fact that there are little or no laws pertaining to illegal downloading of music in a number of Asian countries, and thus they can not make money there.