Austria plans to introduce a so-called "digital tax", the Prime Minister Sebastian Kurz said in the big interview of the year with Austrian daily Osterreich's Sunday issue. Kurz said the country needs to use the opportunities of digitisation, develop infrastructure and "finally levy a fair tax" on the big internet firms. It will implement its own national measure in addition to the European approach and introduce a digital tax for corporations in Austria, he said.
Kurz expressed his gratitude to Minister of Finance Hartwig Loger for his engagement in favour of the EU digital tax. It is fair for internet giants in Europe finally to be properly taxed, he continued. On average, these companies pay around 9 percent taxes in Europe, while the traditional economy usually pays 20 to 25 percent. Therefore, Austria will implement its own national measure and introduce an internet tax there. Loger will present the main points of the plan at a government meeting. According to Kurz, concerns such as Facebook or Amazon cannot be allowed to make big profits in Austria without paying any taxes there.
According to Osterreich's information, the new digital tax rate will be 3 percent on revenues from advertising targeted at the Austrian market and the tax will be levied only on companies with revenues of more than EUR 750 million. Taxation of data sales (data transfer) based on the French model is under discussion, too.
