Gigabyte Tax in France Voted by Mistake: Assembly Hit Wrong Button

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The text comes from the socialist deputy Laurent Lhardit. Its amendment I-1358 to the 2027 budget creates a “tax on producers of digital data”: 0.055 euros per gigabyte transmitted to French networks, capped at 15% of turnover achieved in France or 2% of global turnover.

Operators measure volumes and pay nothing. The bill targets Google, Meta, Amazon, Netflix and Akamai, which account for around half of French traffic according to the explanatory memorandum. The authors expect 10 billion euros per year.

Take a 200 GB video game, the size lent to GTA VI. Each download would cost its publisher 11 euros.

The government didn't want it. The Minister of Public Accounts David Amiel and the general rapporteur Philippe Juvin gave an unfavorable opinion, and the Finance Committee had already rejected a first version on October 1. Amiel disputes the costing and estimates that half of the bill would fall on smaller suppliers, French included.

Nothing happened. It was the first vote of the day, at 9 a.m., and the chamber had clearly not finished its coffee. According to the count by NosParlementaires, the following ballot already had 60 voters a few minutes later.

The yes vote brought together 5 socialists, 2 rebels, 2 ecologists and 2 communists. The no brought together 5 elected officials from the Republican Right, 4 from Ensemble pour la République and the MoDem deputy Sophie Mette.

The 10 RN deputies present abstained, as did 4 out of 6 rebels. All the RN had to do was vote against to bury the text. He preferred to watch the train go by.

There remain the two rebellious yes voters. Éric Coquerel, LFI president of the finance committee, responded bluntly to an Internet user on X: “It’s an error. We very quickly voted on a series of tax amendments on Gafam and there were two of us among the LFIs who pressed the wrong button on this amendment which makes users pay instead of the platforms. »

With two more abstentions, the yes vote fell to 9 votes to 10 and the amendment ended up in the trash. Ten billion euros of expected revenue was therefore due to a misplaced index.

Laurent Lhardit maintains that the tax “will be paid by content providers, firstly by foreign platforms”. Those who voted for it don't even agree on who will foot the bill.

Hi @fitetok I'll answer you clearly: it's an error. We very quickly voted on a series of tax amendments on Gafam and there were two of us among the LFIs who pressed the wrong button on this amendment which makes users pay instead of the platforms. We have…

Machine-translated from French