by Search Copywriter
D. Warburton
D. Warburton
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has asked authorities to explore whether international search engines could be taxed in France, due to the dominant position held by companies such as Google in online advertising.Sarkozy stated yesterday: "For the time being, these companies are taxed in the country in which they are headquartered even though they make up a big part of our advertising market."
According to Yahoo! News, the president made this proposal following a media report that suggested France could start taxing internet advertising revenue from market leaders such as Google. The report suggested that this tax, expected to generate tens of millions of euros, could be invested in aiding the recovery of France's struggling creative industries that have been impacted by the digital revolution.
France has faced previous controversy over its attempts to challenge free internet content, with President Sarkozy last month lashing out at Google's plans to digitise French books. The country has also implemented some of the world's strictest laws on online piracy, leading to the president discussing plans to subsidise half the cost of a card, worth 200 euros (£179), that young people could use to legally download music from the internet.
If this new levy on search engines goes ahead, companies such as Google, Bing and Yahoo! will be taxed if users based in France click on ad banners or sponsored links. This will apply to companies based outside of France that, in the words of one of Guillaume Cerutti, one of the authors of the report, are currently enjoying "enrichment without any limit or compensation."
