South Korea eyes new taxes on Amazon, Facebook, Google

South Korea is exploring measures to collect taxes from major technology companies including Apple, Google and Facebook, according to The Korea Times.

Korean lawmakers are reportedly working to implement new taxes on the companies, which currently pay no corporate taxes despite earning billions in the country.

“Under the current law, preliminary or ancillary places of business are not regarded as global companies’ offices in Korea, and this has played a role in their tax avoidance,” Ahn Jeong-sang, a policy adviser to the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, told the Times.

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“Considering the characteristics of the digital economy, the concept of fixed places of business needs to be expanded so that the government can secure authority to impose taxes on them,” he continued.

The country’s Ministry of Economy and Finance said its officials are cooperating in a task force run by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to examine potential tax policies on global technology companies.

South Korea’s steps to impose taxes on big tech companies echoes similar measures the European Union is considering.

The technology industry has vocally opposed the taxes proposed by the EU.

European policymakers say they believe technology companies have unfairly escaped paying taxes because of loopholes they’re allotted as digital companies, instead of traditional businesses with physical spaces.