Sarkozy wants Google to pay a tax in France

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, candidate for a second term, said that “the giants of the network” must pay taxes in France, evoking in particular a tax on advertising.

“The giants of the network shall also, in addition to its contribution to the creation and funding of networks, pay a representative tax of their activities in our country,” Sarkozy said in an interview with the weekly Le Point.

After repeated complaints from media companies that large Internet portals make much money by selling advertising space using content, Sarkozy had given instructions to make the possibility of introducing the so-called ‘Google tax‘.

“It is unacceptable to have billings of several billion euros in France without contributing to the tax,” he said.

“There are at least two serious tracks I want to explore in parallel, French and European level: a tax on online advertising and submission to corporation tax,” he added. (FL)