France to Impose Digital Tax on Tech Giants Despite US Opposition - Minister

The tax would apply to French revenues from about 30 major tech corporations, most of which are US-based with an estimated increase of roughly 500 million euros ($565 million) per year.

"We are determined to implement a tax on the largest digital companies to bring more justice and efficiency to the international tax system", French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Friday.

Le Maire previously stated that the new tax would cover advertising, websites, and the resale of private data.

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The news comes after the European Commission scraped a digital tax plan for the bloc in March to elaborate a common stance on the issue at a global level. France and some other countries, however, have decided to implement the tax on a national level, while Washington has claimed that the bill is "discriminatory" and warned of WTO actions.

The tax, called "GAFA" by the French media (an acronym that means Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon) targets digital companies with global annual sales of more than 750 million euros ($849 million) and sales in France of at least 25 million euros.