[cs702]

I wonder what the impact will be on these companies' ability to compete against entrenched players in those EU countries. For example, will this make Amazon's prices non-competitive with European bricks-and-mortar retailers?

I also wonder what the impact will be on their stock prices, because taxes on top-line revenues have a disproportionate impact on profit margins. For example, a 5% tax on revenues would render Amazon unprofitable in the EU and would cut Google's 20%+ net profit margin by about a quarter in the region.

Finally, if this goes through, will other jurisdictions around the world follow?

[JanSt]

Currently these giants have to pay less than bricks-and-mortar retailers[1], which is why the system is unfair. Amazon pays less taxes on a book sold than a small 1-person shop across the street. Until very recently, they didn't pay taxes in some countries at all [2]

[1] http://www.sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/steueroase-luxemburg-a...

[2] http://www.sueddeutsche.de/news/politik/eu-amazon-zahlt-jetz...

[open-source-ux]

"...will this make Amazon's prices non-competitive"

Amazon UK book prices are mostly full-price outside of the bestseller lists. It's been like this for a while (but it wasn't of course how Amazon started). So you could argue their prices are already non-competitive for many books. It doesn't seems to matter though since all their rivals (who undercut Amazon book prices) are on Amazon marketplace anyway, so Amazon still gets a cut of the sale. Win-win for Amazon.

If you are in the UK, wordery.com is often a cheaper alternative than Amazon for many books. So is bookdepository.com, which is ironic given that it is owned by Amazon.

[the8472]

> “The amounts raised would aim to reflect some of what these companies should be paying in terms of corporate tax,” the ministers said in the letter, first reported on by the Financial Times.