France: MPs double GAFAM tax rate
October 30, 2025
From Pascale Paoli-Lebailly in Paris
French MPs have voted to double the rate of the so-called GAFAM tax, which targets the largest tech US companies such as Google, Facebook and Apple, from 3 per cent to 6 per cent.
The French government was opposed to such a rise, initially set at 15 per cent, worried about possible disproportionate retaliation from the Trump administration.
“Digital giants must pay a tax in France that is proportional to their activity,” asserted one deputy. “They have multiplied a number of legal tricks to ensure their turnover and profitability are not known,” he claimed, justifying the measured tax growth, with the French Assembly is currently debating the country’s 2026 budget and revenue element.
The GAFAM tax was introduced in 2019 to remedy the tax inequality between mainly foreign digital companies and local economic players subject to tax on the territory. Its return, about €700 million in 2024, remained unrelated to the profits made in France by large groups in the sector, as was set out in the explanatory statement before the vote.
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