Spain Seeks to Tax Facebook, Google as Telecommunications Companies

Spain will seek to tax all companies that operate telecommunications services, such as calls and instant messaging, according to Telecommunications Secretary Roberto Sanchez.

Under a new telecommunications law being proposed by the government, “all operators who provide telecommunication services without having to provide phone numbers, such as Whatsapp" and Telegram would have to register as telecommunications operators and would be taxed based on revenues, Sanchez said in a press conference in which he announced a new draft for the law. Currently, only phone operators, who can provide phone numbers, need to sign up as telecommunications operators, he said.

Under the proposed rules, which would require parliamentary approval, companies such as Alphabet Inc., Facebook Inc., owner of the WhatsApp service, and other internet service providers would have to disclose their sales from messaging services in the country, he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Scrabbl staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)