Italy and US Unite Against Digital Services Tax Challenges

Italy and the US issued a joint statement opposing discriminatory digital services taxes. Italian leader Meloni discussed the issue with Trump's administration, highlighting tensions over a 3% Italian levy on tech giants, which generates limited revenue. The statement emphasized cooperation on non-discriminatory taxation and future investments in technology.

In a significant diplomatic move, Italy and the United States have issued a joint statement denouncing "discriminatory" taxes on digital services. This comes as Italian Prime Minister Meloni engaged in critical discussions with President Donald Trump, signaling a potential shift in Italy's approach to its controversial digital services levy.

The Italian tax, which imposes a 3% charge on revenue from major tech companies like Google's Alphabet, Meta's Facebook, Apple, and Amazon, has been a longstanding contentious issue for U.S. administrations. Currently, this measure contributes less than 500 million euros to Italy's annual budget, far short of its total expenditure of over 800 billion euros.

Despite the revenue's relative insignificance, Italy faces U.S. pressure to amend its stance while also managing domestic political expectations for increased taxation on large tech firms. The joint statement promotes a non-discriminatory tax environment to foster tech investments and mentions upcoming bilateral talks between Italian officials and the U.S. officials in the coming weeks.

(With inputs from agencies.)