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Global digital tax wars

27 August 2019 / Richard Asquith
Categories: Comment & Analysis
China and the US could find that they are unplanned allies.

KEY POINTS

  • Both China and the US are concerned about digital service tax proposals.
  • The Chinese domestic slowdown generates overseas expansion for its large digital   businesses.
  • Weibo the Chinese blogging site has almost half a billion users abroad.
  • European and Indian turnover tax plans are seen as a breach of long-established global treaties.


As the US prepares retaliatory measures against European and Indian Digital Service Tax (DST) plans it has found an unexpected ally: China. Although we have watched as the two nations ratchet-up their tariff and currency confrontations they have found common ground in checking a big-tech tax grab by the rest of the world.

So far China has let the US do all the sabre-rattling around the DST proposals from a growing list of countries. The US threats against French wine or a UK post-Brexit free trade deal has quietly delighted China since these proposals also serve to protect...

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