ROME, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Italy has extended its domestic

tax on digital services to small and medium-sized enterprises

(SMEs) to try to overcome U.S. objections that the levy is

discriminatory, Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said on

Thursday.

Washington has threatened tariffs over unilateral digital

taxes in Europe, as they mainly target U.S. tech companies such

as Meta Platforms ( META ), Google, and Amazon ( AMZN )

.

Italy in 2019 introduced a 3% levy on revenue from internet

transactions for digital companies with annual sales of at least

750 million euros ($809 million) if at least 5.5 million are

made in Italy.

Now, as part of the government's 2025 budget, the Treasury

plans to remove these minimum conditions, aiming to raise 51.6

million euros on top of the current revenue of 400 million.

Confirming an earlier Reuters report, Giorgetti said that

increasing the number of companies forced to pay the tax was

aimed at avoiding clashes with Washington.

"This eliminates the 'discrimination' element underlying the

U.S. complaint", Giorgetti said.

Sources told Reuters this week that the United States had

renewed calls for Italy to repeal its web tax.

During Donald Trump's first term as U.S. president,

Washington said it was prepared to counter the Italian levy.

Now that Trump has won a second term, Italy's web tax is

likely to remain a sensitive issue for Prime Minister Giorgia

Meloni, an Italian government official said.

($1 = 0.9276 euros)