Spain Unveils ‘Google Tax’
Spain’s Congress of Deputies has approved a law, which will pave the way for a levy on news aggregation websites.
Dubbed the “Google Tax,” the levy would allow news publishers to charge “electronic news aggregation systems,” such as the Google News service, every time “a link and a meaningful description” of one of their articles is posted.
The government has not said how much the charge would be, but the Ministry of Culture issued a statement saying the law would not apply to Internet users who share articles via social media.
The law, which is officially named Canon AEDE, is expected to raise about EUR80m (USD106.7m) in tax revenue per year. The additional revenue is intended to prop up the domestic media industry.
The law must be ratified by the Senate before it can come into force.
Source: tax-news
