Latest news with #Weimer
Gulf Today
2 days ago
- Business
- Gulf Today
Germany plans to tax Google, Facebook
Germany's Culture Ministry is planning to bring a law to tax the American online giants like Alphabet of Google and Meta of Facebook. The rate of taxation is to be 10 per cent. The grounds on which taxation is to be imposed are interesting and even new. German Culture Minister Wolfram Weimer told the magazine, Stern, 'These corporations do billions in business in Germany with extremely high profit margins and benefit enormously from the country's media and cultural output as well as its infrastructure – but they pay hardly any taxes, invest too little, and give far too little back to the country.' There is more than an element of truth in Weimer's statement. Google and Facebook thrive much from the media content that populates their platforms, which is one of the reasons that millions of Net users throng them, to get the news in a jiffy as it were. Both Google and Facebook do not create an iota of their own content. They thrive on what they take from others, either directly or through their own users. Australia overcame the problem by giving in to the demand of newspapers and other old media, that Google should pay them for using their content. Weimer is stating the fact that the online platforms are using cultural output of the country – whether it be music, films, art – and they do not do anything to sustain the cultural events. Similarly, the Internet penetration in the country and the infrastructure that sustains it is what enables millions of Germans to use Google and Facebook, and it is on the large number of users that these online companies earn their revenues. It is but reasonable that the online companies should be made to pay taxes of some kind. Weimer has even suggested voluntary contribution on the part of Google and Facebook. But this may be impracticable. No company will be willing to make voluntary contribution in lieu of taxes. The American online platforms have an advantage over national players because they have worldwide footprint because of the investments they made in the search engines reaching the ends of the globe as it were. They are indeed reaping benefits from it. But do they have an obligation to the regions and countries in which they operate? Google and Facebook can argue that they have built the cyber bridges to connect the different places, and they are allowing a free use of it. The owners of these platforms would not let these sites remain free if they were not earning enough revenue in billions of dollars. If they did not make money, they would have imposed some user-charges from the thousands of millions who use them around the globe. They can say that they have boosted other businesses through the space they have opened up for other businesses. These arguments do not however discredit the demand for tax payments from national governments. That these online payers use national airwaves is a fact. It can be argued that it is the telecom companies in these countries which have the right to charge these companies. But the search engines with enormous Cloud or memory power which sustain these platforms do cost enough money, but the revenue generated by advertisers outstrips the investment and costs of maintenance. National governments have a legitimate right to demand tax from the online platforms because they operate within the sovereign territory of a country. Facebook and the Google do not have the solidity of an iPhone, but they are at the same time cyber-products. They can be treated as taxable products or services. The rate of taxation should remain flexible enough so that the thriving business of connecting people is not affected or dampened.
eNCA
3 days ago
- Business
- eNCA
Germany considers 10% tax on internet giants
Germany is weighing plans for a 10 percent digital tax for internet giants such as Alphabet and Meta, a senior official said Friday, despite the risk of stoking further trade tensions with the United States. "This is a question of tax justice," parliamentary state secretary in the digital ministry Philip Amthor told Die Welt newspaper. "Large digital corporations in particular are cleverly engaging in tax avoidance" while German businesses are "treated with no mercy, everything is taxed." "A fairer system must be created here so that this tax avoidance is addressed," he said about the plan to tax advertising revenue from platforms such as Meta's Instagram and Facebook. Germany's media and culture commissioner Wolfram Weimer said earlier the government was drafting a proposal for such a digital tax but would first invite Google and other big tech companies for talks. Weimer -- the former editor of Die Welt and other media -- on Thursday told Stern magazine that "the large American digital platforms like Alphabet/Google, Meta and others are on my agenda". He said he had "invited Google management and key industry representatives to meetings at the chancellery to examine alternatives, including possible voluntary commitments". "At the same time, we are preparing a concrete legislative proposal," Weimer added. This could be based on the model in Austria, which has a five percent tax, he said, adding that in Germany "we consider a 10 percent tax rate to be moderate and legitimate". He said that "monopoly-like structures have emerged that not only restrict competition but also over-concentrate media power. This puts media diversity at risk". "On the other hand, corporations in Germany are doing billion-dollar business with very high margins and have profited enormously from our country's media and cultural output as well as its infrastructure. "But they hardly pay any taxes, invest too little, and give far too little back to society."
Local Germany
3 days ago
- Business
- Local Germany
'Tax justice': Germany considers 10 percent levy on internet giants
"This is a question of tax justice," parliamentary state secretary in the digital ministry Philip Amthor told Die Welt newspaper. "Large digital corporations in particular are cleverly engaging in tax avoidance" while German businesses are "treated with no mercy, everything is taxed." "A fairer system must be created here so that this tax avoidance is addressed," he said about the plan to tax advertising revenue from platforms such as Meta's Instagram and Facebook. Germany's media and culture commissioner Wolfram Weimer said earlier the government was drafting a proposal for such a digital tax but would first invite Google and other big tech companies for talks. Weimer -- the former editor of Die Welt and other media -- on Thursday told Stern magazine that "the large American digital platforms like Alphabet/Google, Meta and others are on my agenda". He said he had "invited Google management and key industry representatives to meetings at the chancellery to examine alternatives, including possible voluntary commitments". Advertisement "At the same time, we are preparing a concrete legislative proposal," Weimer added. This could be based on the model in Austria, which has a five percent tax, he said, adding that in Germany "we consider a 10 percent tax rate to be moderate and legitimate". He said that "monopoly-like structures have emerged that not only restrict competition but also over-concentrate media power. This puts media diversity at risk". "On the other hand, corporations in Germany are doing billion-dollar business with very high margins and have profited enormously from our country's media and cultural output as well as its infrastructure. "But they hardly pay any taxes, invest too little, and give far too little back to society." Weimer stressed that "something has to change now. Germany is becoming alarmingly dependent on the American technological infrastructure."
France 24
3 days ago
- Business
- France 24
Germany considers 10% tax on internet giants
"This is a question of tax justice," parliamentary state secretary in the digital ministry Philip Amthor told Die Welt newspaper. "Large digital corporations in particular are cleverly engaging in tax avoidance" while German businesses are "treated with no mercy, everything is taxed." "A fairer system must be created here so that this tax avoidance is addressed," he said about the plan to tax advertising revenue from platforms such as Meta's Instagram and Facebook. Germany's media and culture commissioner Wolfram Weimer said earlier the government was drafting a proposal for such a digital tax but would first invite Google and other big tech companies for talks. Weimer -- the former editor of Die Welt and other media -- on Thursday told Stern magazine that "the large American digital platforms like Alphabet/Google, Meta and others are on my agenda". He said he had "invited Google management and key industry representatives to meetings at the chancellery to examine alternatives, including possible voluntary commitments". "At the same time, we are preparing a concrete legislative proposal," Weimer added. This could be based on the model in Austria, which has a five percent tax, he said, adding that in Germany "we consider a 10 percent tax rate to be moderate and legitimate". He said that "monopoly-like structures have emerged that not only restrict competition but also over-concentrate media power. This puts media diversity at risk". "On the other hand, corporations in Germany are doing billion-dollar business with very high margins and have profited enormously from our country's media and cultural output as well as its infrastructure. "But they hardly pay any taxes, invest too little, and give far too little back to society." Weimer stressed that "something has to change now. Germany is becoming alarmingly dependent on the American technological infrastructure."
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Kettering Health fully restores emergency operations after cyberattack
All Kettering Health emergency departments are now fully operational following a cyberattack that took its systems offline, according to a statement from the Dayton-based hospital group's website. John Weimer, Kettering Health senior vice president and leader for incident command, said in a statement that emergency rooms at Kettering Health locations are now accepting both walk-in patients and those transported by first responders. 'This is another great milestone in our recovery process. Our teams have worked incredibly hard to bring imaging up, so we could end diversion in our emergency departments,' Weimer said. The hospital group confirmed May 20 it was experiencing a cybersecurity attack due to unauthorized access to its network, according to a statement on Kettering Health's website. Kettering Health first announced it was experiencing a system-wide technology outage around 10:30 a.m. that morning, limiting its ability to access "certain patient care systems" across the organization. All elective inpatient and outpatient procedures at its facilities were canceled. Since the initial outage on May 20, teams across Kettering Health continue to restore all technology systems in the aftermath of unauthorized access that caused the cyberattack, according to their website. 'We're incredibly grateful to our community partners," Weimer said. "Especially GDAHA and Premier Health, for their support and to our own caregivers and staff who continue to develop temporary measures to boost our recovery and return to normal procedures." This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Emergency operations restored at Kettering Health after cyberattack
