Germany Eyes 10% Digital Tax on Tech Giants

Hey, so get this, Germany is thinking 'bout putting a 10% tax on big online companies like Google and Facebook. Yeah, you heard that right! It's a move that could totally stir things up with the US, especially since President Trump is expected to visit soon. He's been pretty vocal about not letting other countries tax US companies, you know?

The guy in charge of culture stuff over there, Wolfram Weimer, said they're working on a plan. He also wants to chat with the companies themselves, saying they've been, like, really good at not paying much tax. He's like, these massive companies make tons of cash in Germany, they use all their infrastructure and stuff, but pay hardly any taxes. Tbh, he thinks they're not giving enough back to society.

Google and Meta haven't said anything back yet, which is kinda expected, right? Now, the ruling parties in Germany did talk about a digital tax earlier this year, but it wasn't, like, a top priority or anything. And apparently, this idea from Weimer hasn't even been fully agreed on by the government yet.

If Germany does this tax on sales from digital services, they'll be joining a bunch of other countries like the UK, France, and Canada who are already doing it. Remember how Trump got mad about this before and even started looking into putting taxes on imports from those countries? Well, it seems like the new government in Germany isn't too bothered by that.

Weimer also thinks these big online platforms are getting way too powerful, almost like monopolies. He's worried it's not fair for competition and that they have too much control over the media, which isn't great for free speech. He gave this example, like, if Google could just change the name of the Gulf of Mexico 'cause Trump wanted them to, it just shows how much power these companies have in shaping what people see and think. Pretty wild to think about, huh?