Dan.xbt

The craziest law in European history for the internet just got approved. France just voted to tax data BY THE GIGABYTE. Lawmakers approved an amendment charging content providers €0.055 for every gigabyte sent to French internet users. It passed 11-10, despite opposition from the government. In this novel proposal, the amount of data delivered is what gets taxed. Internet providers would measure traffic from content companies, which would then pay the tax. Netflix streams, YouTube videos, cloud services and game downloads all falls within its scope. At the proposed rate, delivering a 100GB game download would generate €5.50 in tax before the applicable caps. That is a charge to the provider, not automatically on the customer’s bill. But the concern is that providers would pass some costs through higher subscriptions or download prices to its consumers. The amendment includes caps tied to revenue: 15% of French turnover or 2% of worldwide turnover. Its authors expect €10 BILLION annually and argue that taxing traffic makes it harder for digital businesses to shift their tax base abroad. France’s proposal targets digital companies, but its eventual impact would depend on how much of the bill reaches consumers.