Friday 04 Apr 2025 @ 12:20
Chatham House
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Putting the Digital Services Tax on the table in US negotiations sends worrying signal on UK digital sovereignty

EXPERT COMMENT

It would likely be unpopular for a government that has cut welfare services and introduced new taxes on UK businesses, but it also risks undermining wider attempts to regulate big tech.

The UK’s Digital Services Tax (DST) was originally introduced as a stopgap measure, passed in 2020 pending an international agreement to reform the international tax framework (the agreement never materialized). The DST looked to make tech multinationals not headquartered in the UK pay a tax on the revenues they made from their UK users. 

The tax, set at 2 per cent on the revenues of search engines, social media services and online marketplaces, raises a modest amount – £800 million a year, on average. But it holds significant symbolic value: corporate tax avoidance is a bugbear for the UK public.

Click here to continue reading the full version of this Expert Comment on the Chatham House website.

 

Channel website: https://www.chathamhouse.org/

Original article link: https://www.chathamhouse.org/2025/04/putting-digital-services-tax-table-us-negotiations-sends-worrying-signal-uk-digital

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