The opposition of PP and Cs to the 'Google rate' of the Government weakens its future

The opposition of PP and Cs to the 'Google rate' of the Government weakens its future

Although Rajoy proposed a similar tax, now the popular formation thinks that it is necessary to look for consensus in the EU to not lose competitiveness, while the party of Rivera confirms that it will not take it in its electoral program

   After the call for general elections, the processing in the Congress of the two new taxes proposed by the Government of Sanchez ends: the one for certain digital services ('Google rate') and the one for financial transactions ('Tobin tax'). The digital enters a phase of lethargy that can not be predicted if it will wake up, since the parliamentary groups of the PP and Citizens have opposed the tax.

In the case of the PP by the form, although not in the background . The cabinet of former Minister Cristóbal Montoro proposed a tax on technology very similar to that of Minister María Jesús Montero, but at the moment they disagree with the socialist proposal because it generates "lack of competitiveness" for Spanish SMEs, as the speaker has lamented of the PP during the day 'Marco Tributario del Sector Digital' organized by the technological employer DigitalES.

   Although the text of the bill of the 'Google rate' excludes companies that bill less than 3 million euros in Spain and 750 million globally, Jaime de Olano, spokesman in the Finance Committee in the PP Congress, explains that Montero's proposal "is not in line with the EU's", besides that "the most convenient" would be to do it within the framework of the OECD , with more consensus. "The most sensible thing is not to apply it unilaterally because competitiveness is lost, above all it hurts SMEs, and it will slow down the investment rhythm," explains Del Olmo.

Citizens get rid of the tax

Although the spokesman of the PSOE has regretted that the project is not going to see "for now" the light and summons the future to continue with this proposal, Citizens goes a step further than the PP in its opposition. His spokesman in the Finance Committee in Congress, Francisco de la Torre, admits that the lack of taxation of the great technology is a "global problem" because "the companies that earn more money in the world are those that pay less taxes »

In spite of this, as the consensus in the EU has now been diluted, he believes that creating our own standard in Spain would harm the competitiveness of national companies. "We are not going to propose a rate of this style in our electoral program," de la Torre says. It also explains that the taxable events to tax large companies with this tax are "unusual", as in the case of the sale of data because it means "paying for something that is legally prohibited".

Difficulty of consensus among 127 countries

On the part of the experts gathered in the day, José Ignacio Box, partner of the tax department of Deloitte recalls that the OECD is a set of 127 countries to agree with everyone to change the rules of the game of international taxation is "tremendously difficult" . "It is a very complex tax to be shared by the geostrategic interests involved ," he explains.

The partner of the tax law department of Garrigues, Eduardo Gardeta, recalls that in the Government's project it was not possible to establish the effects of this bill on competitiveness and regrets that the tax was heavily taxed to telecommunications companies. "These companies require a huge investment effort for the deployment of 5G and promote connectivity throughout the national territory," so adding more taxes to these companies may harm this point.

The 'telcos' are 'over-regulated'

Therefore, from the side of the telecommunications companies, they have criticized the overregulation of the sector. The fiscal director of Orange, María del Olmo, has criticized that the 'Google tax' is intended to resolve a situation of discrimination by generating a situation of "super discrimination". He believes that the regulation has been done "quickly" since it is not worth thinking that there is a community proposal. "The EU has been wrong in this, they should have gone all countries hand in hand."

The friendly face regarding the tax was put in charge of tax advice from Telefónica, Álvaro Rico, who assures that although the digital tax is stopped after the call for general elections, it is a "good way to go little by little" getting all the digital ecosystem contributes to the sector with its taxation.