Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 22 November 2018
12. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Finance if he will report on the November 2018 meeting of ECOFIN and the policy debate by EU finance ministers on the proposal to establish a digital services tax; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48540/18]
View answerThe Minister told me a few weeks ago that the digital services tax would cost us at least €160 million per year, but the vibes coming from the ECOFIN meeting were very disturbing. Bruno Le Maire, for example, seemed to say we could bring in a digital services tax by the end of the year and then suspend it for two years and Olaf Scholz said something fairly similar. Is the support the Minister has had in Europe crumbling? Will he have to resort to a veto?
There continue to be a number of other member states who have consistently expressed opposition to the introduction of the digital services tax. Their opposition was reiterated the last time this issue was discussed, which was at the October ECOFIN meeting, and they were very clear in expressing their concern on the matter. This is a change from where we have been over the past year when Ireland and one other country were voicing concern on the matter.
There will be a further discussion on this issue in two weeks' time in December. Regardless of whether the European Union implements an EU-wide measure, we have already seen ten member states introduce their own unilateral measure or indicate that they are planning to bring forward such a measure. We will see these measures being deployed in individual member states in the near future, but I stand by my view that if the European Union was to go down this route on its own, it would open up a significant trade risk. Ireland could find itself at the heart of this trading difficulty in terms of a tax policy matter. That is why the OECD is the best place in which to resolve the issue.
