France wants EU to push ahead with digital tax if global efforts fail

French Finance and Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire (right) is welcomed by German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz at the Informal Meeting of Ministers for Economics and Financial Affairs in Berlin, Germany, on Sept 11. – Reuters

BERLIN: The European Union should push ahead with its own digital tax in the first quarter of 2021 if broader efforts to find an international solution do not bring a breakthrough this year, the French finance minister said on Sept 11.

Nearly 140 countries are currently negotiating the first major rewrite of international tax rules in a generation to account for the rise of big digital companies.