French MPs approve 3% tax on online giants as govt wants other states to follow suit

France’s lower house of parliament approved on Thursday a pioneering tax on internet giants like Google, Amazon and Facebook. The French government hopes other countries will follow suit, AP reports.

The bill, which was adopted by the National Assembly and goes to the Senate next week, aims to stop multinationals from avoiding taxes by setting up headquarters in low-tax EU countries, AP reports.

Currently, the companies pay nearly no tax in countries where they have large sales like France.

The bill foresees a 3 percent tax on the French revenues of digital companies with global revenue of more than €750 million ($847 million), and French revenue over €25 million.