T
he French government has opened a
can of worms with its move to tax
technology giants like Google, Ama zon
and Facebook. The French initiative is a
response to a growing public feeling that
countries are losing out on billions in
taxes because of the intangible and extra-
territorial nature of the digital economy.
Around 30 companies—mostly
American—will have to pay the tax.
France has accused firms of routing
some profits through low-tax EU mem-
ber states, such as Ireland and Luxem -
bourg. Any digital company with revenue
of more than €750m—of which at least
€25m is generated in France—would be
subject to the tax. The French govern-
ment has argued that companies should
not be able to escape paying tax if their
headquarters are
based elsewhere.
Naturally, US
President Donald
Trump has waded
into the contro-
versy, vowing retaliatory measures like
imposing new tariffs on countries the
Trump administration feels is taking the
US for a ride—India being a prime ex -
am ple. The US took the same view on
China, entangling itself in a trade war.
The digital tax is a risk for France.
There had been talk of a Europe-wide
tech tax but talks collapsed. Other coun-
tries—such as the UK, Spain and Austria
—are considering similar moves, but
France is the first to implement the ini-
tiative. French President Emmanuel
Macron (inset) is hoping that other
countries follow his lead or, at the least,
look at a multilateral agreement on how
digital firms should be taxed globally,
putting an end to the vast sums of
money made by internet giants while
paying minimum taxes in the country
they list as their headquarters, like
Luxembourg.U
S soccer star Megan Rapinoe’s
complaints about women getting
paid far less than their male counter-
parts was reinforced by the annual
Forbeslist of highest paid celebrities,
released last week. The top ten in clu -
ded Argentinian footballer Lionel
Messi in fourth spot with $127 million
in earnings, Juventus star Cristiano
Ronaldo with $109m, and Paris
Saint-Germain’s Neymar with $105m
who took sixth and seventh spots,
respectively.
However, women didn’t do so
badly either. “Shake it off ” singer Tay -
lor Swift topped the list of highest
paid celebrities with earnings of
$185m, while the second highest earn-
er on the list is 21-year-old model and
make-up mogul Kylie Jenner, who
earned $170m. Other women on the
list in clude author JK Rowling with
$92m at number 13 and singer Bey -
oncé with $81m in the 20th position.
Forbeshas been using its own
matrix to calculate pre-tax profits of
celebrities, and this year, only 16 wo -
men have made it into the top 100.
There’s just one Indian celeb on the
list—Akshay Kumar makes it to the
33rd spot with earnings of `444 crore,
($65 million).
The actor is even ahead of Holly -
wood A-listers like Rihanna, Scarlett
Johansson, Chris Evans, Katy Perry,
Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga.| INDIA LEGAL |July 22, 2019 23International Briefs
Cashing in on Celebrities
A
merican star football play-
er Megan Rapinoe (right)
has become the shining new
symbol for gender equality.
The captain of the USA soccer
team has raised her profile,
and her demands, after the US
won the Women’s World Cup
tournament in France.
The crowd in the Lyon sta-
dium where the final was pla -
yed, echoed her views, chan -
ting: “Equal pay! Equal pay!”
She herself said after the
team’s triumphant return to
America: “I think we are done
with the questions like ‘are we
worth it?’ Let’s get to the next
point of ‘what’s next’?”
She has a point. The win-
ning US team in France recei -
ved $4m (£3.2m), double the
amount of the previous tour-
nament in 2015 but way short
of the men’s World Cup prize
money of $400m. Apart from
prize money, each of the wo -
men’s teams competing in the
recent tournament received
around $800,000 in prepara-
tion costs and other expenses.
The teams taking part in themen’s World Cup were given
$1.5 million. The differences
are stark. However, FIFA
argued that the revenue gener-
ated by the men’s events is far
higher than the women’s.
Rapi noe has also made a
strong political statement, say-
ing she would refuse to enter
the White House due to Do -
nald Trump—it is customary
for world champion teams to
be invited by the president.
She scored a goal in the US
team’s win against the Nether -
lands and looks likely to score
many more, off the field.Soccer’s New Star
Taxing Times