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New culture minister of state wants tax on online

platforms

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Proposed levy would hit US tech giants like Alphabet and

Meta

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Likely to escalate tensions with Trump administration

(Adds comment from officials in paragraph 6)

By Sarah Marsh

BERLIN, May 29 (Reuters) - Germany is considering a 10%

tax on large online platforms like Alphabet's Google

and Meta's Facebook, its new minister of state for

culture told magazine Stern, in a move likely to heighten trade

tensions with the Trump administration.

The proposal comes as Chancellor Friedrich Merz is expected

to travel to Washington soon to meet with U.S. President Donald

Trump, although a trip has not yet been officially announced.

Trump has in the past said he will not allow foreign governments

to "appropriate America's tax base for their own benefit".

Culture Minister of State Wolfram Weimer said officials were

drafting a legislative proposal while also seeking talks with

platform operators that he accused of "cunning tax evasion" to

explore alternative solutions like voluntary contributions.

"These corporations do billions in business in Germany with

extremely high profit margins and benefit enormously from the

country's media and cultural output as well as its

infrastructure - but they pay hardly any taxes, invest too

little, and give far too little back to society," he told Stern

in an interview published on Thursday.

Alphabet and Meta did not immediately respond to Reuters

requests for comment.

Germany's ruling parties agreed in a deal earlier this year

to consider the introduction of a digital services levy, but

this was not on the list of projects the coalition wants to

prioritize. Weimer's proposal had not yet been agreed upon by

the government, officials said.

If the government goes ahead with the tax on sales revenue

generated by digital services providers within its borders, it

would join a raft of other countries to have done so such as

Britain, France, Italy, Spain, Turkey, India, Austria and

Canada.

During Trump's first term, the U.S. Trade Representative's

office launched a Section 301 investigation into unfair trade

practices against several of these countries, finding they

discriminated against U.S. companies, paving the way for

retaliatory tariffs on certain imports.

In February, Trump ordered his trade chief to revive

investigations aimed at imposing tariffs on imports from

countries that levy digital service taxes on U.S. technology

companies.

That does not, however, appear to have deterred the new

German government, which took office earlier this month.

Weimer accused the big digital platforms of building up

"monopoly-like structures" that not only restrict competition

but also concentrate media power too heavily", posing a risk for

freedom of expression.

"If Google, under pressure from Donald Trump, unilaterally

renames the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America- and simply

decrees this due to its enormous power to shape meaning in

global communication - then we can see the kinds of problems

that lie within the current structures," he said.

(Reporting by Sarah Marsh; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)