Statement by Dom Hallas, Executive Director of The Coalition for a Digital Economy (Coadec), on the announcement of Philip Hammond that the Government will pursue a digital services tax.
“The real losers from a revenue-based digital tax like what Philip Hammond seems to be pursuing will not be the tech giants, but growing British tech businesses.
British startup and scaleup tech businesses have been going gangbusters despite the economic uncertainty of Brexit – if the Chancellor continues to go it alone and pursue a digital services tax he will be cutting growing startups and scaleups off at the knees.
The tech giants Philip Hammond claims to be targeting are in fact best placed to deal with an increased tax burden, the true cost will be in hurting innovative British companies who want to develop at home then grow globally.”