Manfred Weber, Chairman of the EPP Group in the European Parliament and Member of the European Parliament, speaks on stage at the Digital Life Design (DLD) Innovation Conference. (picture alliance/Lino Mirgeler/dpa)
Manfred Weber, the top candidate of the European People's Party in the European parliament elections in May, believes that taxation of such digital giants as Facebook and Google must still be sought despite the failure of a first attempt to do so.
"It is something we must do in order to create fairness in this new market," Weber, of Germany's conservative Christian Social Union party, told the DLD innovation conference in Munich on Monday. Digital companies continued to pay lower taxes than companies in the classic industries. The political sector needed resources in order to help support those losing out in the wake of digitalization, said Weber.
This was also an important aspect with regard to winning over the support of the people, Weber said. When he appears before an audience, many people express outrage about the different taxation levels.
His remarks come to the backdrop of recent developments, when an attempt to introduce a digital tax in Europe fell through in December. Then, European Union finance ministers could not agree on a common position. The debate is to be taken up again this year.
The EU Commission had proposed imposing a three per cent profit tax on digital companies that have annual revenues of at least 750 million euros (850 million dollars) worldwide as well as online revenues of 50 million euros in Europe.
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