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Germany is preparing to impose a 10% levy on revenues earned by major online platforms such as Alphabet’s Google and Meta’s Facebook, marking the most assertive effort yet by the new Merz government to curb foreign tech dominance and reclaim what it calls “rightful contributions to society.”
In an interview with Stern, newly appointed Culture Minister Wolfram Weimer revealed that his ministry is finalizing legislation to tax online giants operating in Germany. The levy would apply to revenue earned from digital services within the country’s borders, not just profits a detail that positions it as a direct challenge to the U.S. tech sector and likely to inflame trade tensions with Washington.
“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,” Weimer said. “They invest too little, and give far too little back to society.”
The proposal underscores Europe’s growing momentum to extract fiscal value from U.S. tech companies seen as under-contributing despite dominating advertising, search, and social media in European markets. If passed, Germany would join the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and other OECD countries that have introduced similar digital services taxes in recent years.
The U.S. government under President Donald Trump has fiercely opposed such levies. During his first term, the administration opened Section 301 trade investigations into what it called “discriminatory taxation” of American firms. The findings paved the way for retaliatory tariffs, and in February this year, Trump reignited those probes after several nations reinstated or expanded their digital tax regimes.
A visit from German Chancellor Friedrich Merz to Washington is expected soon, though not yet officially announced. The timing of the proposed tax legislation may complicate what was intended to be a diplomatic bridge-building mission. Trump has long said he would not allow foreign governments to “appropriate America’s tax base for their own benefit.”
Google and Meta declined to comment on the proposal.
Industry analysts say the tax could reduce profit margins for the digital giants in Germany or force them to raise fees for advertising clients and users a scenario that could ripple through the small business community, which heavily relies on these platforms.
While some EU countries have signaled readiness to roll back such taxes if a global OECD framework is adopted, Weimer emphasized Germany’s willingness to act unilaterally: “We are not waiting for consensus that may never come. We are acting in the national interest.”
Weimer also raised broader concerns about the monopolistic power of U.S. digital platforms, pointing to their influence over information, culture, and public discourse. “If Google, under pressure from Donald Trump, unilaterally renames the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and simply decrees this due to its enormous power to shape meaning then we can see the kinds of problems that lie within the current structures,” he warned.
As with other digital levies, the German tax could become a test case for balancing national sovereignty and globalization in the digital era. And with Europe’s largest economy now stepping into the arena, the global standoff over taxing Big Tech is far from over.
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