France eyes 'Google tax' on Internet ads

[Kalyan]

France may slap a "Google tax" on online advertising under proposals that drew complaints from the Internet sector.

The proposal was one of several in a government-commissioned report submitted yesterday following complaints by media companies that Internet giants such as Google are profiting from their content for free.

The report recommended ways to boost the availability of cultural material online while also protecting artists' and the media's intellectual property.

The report suggested taxing the online advertising sector as well as Internet providers and using the revenue to aid creative sectors such as the music industry, which are struggling to adapt to the age of downloads.

This could raise up to 50 million euros (USD 70 million) this year, according to the plan.

The report's lead author, record producer Patrick Zelnik, said the tax would take "a small percentage" of Google's online ad revenues, which he estimated at 800 million euros a year in total, according to Liberation newspaper.

The report by government-commissioned experts dubbed the plan a "Google tax", but said it could target other big Internet players such as Microsoft, AOL, Yahoo and Facebook.