LONDON: The very week Brexit Secretary argued that the UK would not pursue a parasitic spiral of deregulation on the fringes of Europe. To this effect, London provided Brussels with what may be considered a goodwill gesture.
France has led a campaign to tax mainly US-based digital behemoths, which have used a series of tax loopholes to avoid taxation. This political demand is not without opposition. Ireland and the Netherlands have expressed skepticism, although the UK seems to be aligned on this front with the European Commission.
According to the Financial Times, the fear is now that US companies will now seek to take advantage of the new taxation regime in the United States to “lighten” their taxation burden.