France has collected the levy since 2019, and Spain since this year, under pressure from voters to make US tech giants pay a greater share of taxes in countries where they operate.
The ad rate increase is to “cover a part of the cost of conforming to laws concerning taxes on digital services in France and Spain,” the internet giant said in an e-mail seen by AFP.
In France, internet companies with more than 750 million euros ($895 million) in worldwide sales, and 25 million in France, must pay a three percent tax on their French operations, notably advertising sales and marketplace operations.
Spain also charges a three-percent tax on some of their businesses.
Jean-Luc Chetrit, head of the Union des Marques, an alliance of major brands, said Google’s decision would “amputate the investment capacity of brands at a time when all companies are going through an unprecedented crisis.”
Google did not respond to AFP’s requests for comment, but Karan Bhatia, its head of government affairs, warned in February that “Taxes on digital services complicate efforts to reach a balanced agreement that works for all countries.”
“We urge these governments to reconsider what are essentially tariffs, or at least suspend them while negotiations continue,” he said.
Google as well as Apple, Facebook and
