The Polish government said on Tuesday it is aiming to complete work on its new tax on big technology companies like Google and Facebook by the end of the year, despite threats by US President Donald Trump to impose tariffs and other trade restrictions on countries with such digital services taxes.
In comments made to Politico, a spokesperson for Poland’s Ministry of Digital Affairs said: “Work is currently underway to prepare the draft bill, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2025.”
On Tuesday, Trump posted on the Truth social media platform that his administration would stand up for the US’s “incredible” tech companies in the face of digital taxes, digital services legislation, and digital markets regulations, which he claimed are all designed to harm or discriminate against US tech firms.
“I put all Countries with Digital Taxes, Legislation, Rules, or Regulations, on notice that unless these discriminatory actions are removed, I, as President of the United States, will impose substantial additional Tariffs on that Country’s Exports to the U.S.A., and institute Export restrictions on our Highly Protected Technology and Chips,” he wrote.
While a Europe-wide digital services tax is stalled, France, Italy and Spain have all introduced taxes on advertising, digital interfaces and user data services, ranging from 3 to 5 per cent. Hungary passed a tax on revenues from online advertising, but suspended it until the end of 2025. None specifically targets US companies, but these digital services taxes apply only to companies with global scale and digital-heavy business models, disproportionately affecting American big tech.
Poland is one of several EU countries that are working on imposing similar taxes on large tech companies as a means to support local tech firms and media, and raise budget revenues.
Polish Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski has indicated that the government is looking to introduce a 3 per cent digital tax rate on companies whose global revenues exceed 750 million euros. And on August 18, Slovakia’s Ministry of Investment, Regional Development and Informatization (MIRDI) said in a statement that it is pushing for the country to adopt a domestic digital services tax as part of government efforts to consolidate public finances by raising between 30 and 100 million euros annually.
“Slovak media, travel agencies, or taxi services pay taxes at home. But large digital platforms such as Meta (Facebook, Instagram), Google and YouTube, TikTok, Booking, Airbnb, Uber, Bolt, Amazon, eBay, Aliexpress, Netflix, Spotify, Disney+ or cloud services like Microsoft or Amazon Web Services generate huge revenues in Slovakia – and yet they don’t pay taxes here. That is unfair to our entrepreneurs as well as to our citizens,” Radomir Salitros, state secretary for MIRDI, said.
The Czech government in 2019 proposed a 7 per cent digital services tax with the thresholds set at 750 million euros in global revenue and CZK 50 million (approximately 2 million euros) in local digital revenue. However, the Finance Ministry told BIRN it is not currently preparing a digital services tax.
European Commission spokeswoman Paula Pinho told reporters on Tuesday, that “it is the sovereign right of the EU and its member states to regulate our economic activities on our territory that are consistent with our democratic values.”
Nevertheless, domestic politics could intrude on Poland efforts. Karol Nawrocki, Poland’s new president who is a firm supporter of Trump and allied with Poland’s opposition Law and Justice party, has vowed to block any legislation from the government he doesn’t like.
Nicholas Watson
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