France seeks to win over global tax opponents

[ad_1]

With the help of Bjarke Smith-Meyer

SCHEDULE NOTE: Morning Tech will not publish from Monday 30th August to Monday 6th September. We will return to our normal schedule on Tuesday, September.

Editor’s Note: Morning Tech is a free version of POLITICO Pro Technology’s morning newsletter, which is delivered to our subscribers every morning at 6:00 am. The POLITICAL Pro platform combines the news you need with tools you can use to act on the biggest stories of the day. Act on the news with POLITICO Pro.

Digitax date: a French delegation is today in Ireland, where it will try to overcome the resistance to the global tax agreement that would have an impact on the main technology companies.

Back to school: Before the next school year, schools and libraries are asking for billions in funding for broadband, raising new concerns about what will happen when those dollars run out.

House Cleaning: Democratic and progressive organizers want to make sure the platforms they use for digital fundraising aren’t also being used for spam or deceptive marketing tactics.

IT’S THURSDAY AUGUST. 26. WELCOME TO MORNING TECH. I’m your host, Benjamin Din. Did you cultivate any fun hobbies during the pandemic? I am learning French on Duolingo, but progress has been very slow.

Got a news tip? E-mail [email protected]. Do you have an event for our calendar? Send details to [email protected]. Everything else? Team info below. And don’t forget: add @MorningTech and @PoliticoPro on Twitter.

ACROSS THE OCEAN French President Emmanuel Macron is in Ireland today with an entourage of ministers, including his finance minister Bruno Le Maire. Le Maires’ mission: to convince his Irish colleague, Paschal Donohoe, to accept a global minimum effective corporate tax rate of 15%.

Dublin did not hesitate to oppose a revision of international corporate tax rules; is one of the latest resistances after 130 countries signed up to the idea in July. The Irish are reluctant to accept for fear of losing business, as the global tax plan would raise the current corporate tax rate in Ireland. And a global increase of that size could also have a significant impact on the profits of American tech giants like Amazon and Google.

All together now: getting Ireland on board will be key to securing the deal. The European Commission plans to codify the global minimum rate into EU law with a bill early next year, and its fiscal initiatives require unanimity to go through the Brussels legislative machine.

But Ireland is not alone in its opposition. Estonia and Hungary also opposed the minimum rate. Three versus 24 countries might not seem like a big hurdle, but a previous EU offer to introduce a digital services tax in 2019 failed because Ireland, Denmark, Sweden and Finland said no.

Sweet talk: Macron’s trip is not aimed at putting pressure on Ireland, according to French officials, who insist the Irish have not completely closed the door to joining the global deal. We are going to Ireland to hear and understand the difficulties Ireland faces, an official said.

Meanwhile in the United States: Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Mark Warner (D-Va.) And Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) released a bill on Wednesday detailing their plans to raise taxes on companies’ foreign profits, POLITICOs Brian Reports Faler for professionals. Their proposal would be tougher for multinationals than the global tax deal.

BROADBAND DOLLARS ON DEMAND, PART II With the start of another Covid-era school year, not only local and state governments and Internet providers are desperate for broadband cash. A coalition representing schools and libraries is urging Congress to replenish funds for an FCC funding program aimed at strengthening connectivity for students, school staff and library customers.

It is imperative that lawmakers include the SUCCESS Act as part of the $ 3.5 trillion budget partisan spending package that Democrats are getting Congress to pass, the Education and Libraries Networks Coalition said Wednesday. The group includes the American Federation of Teachers, the American Library Association, and the National Education Association. That bill, sponsored by Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) And Rep. Grace Meng (DN.Y.), would authorize $ 40 billion over five years for the FCC program.

Hit the break: It’s unclear how open Democrats would be to such a suggestion, as President Joe Biden said he didn’t want to double the $ 3.5 trillion for areas that are expected to receive funding as part of the bipartisan infrastructure package, which it already includes $ 65 billion in broadband funding.

What’s driving the push: According to FCC data released Wednesday, schools and libraries have already filed requests totaling over $ 5.1 billion, to pay for 9.1 million devices and 5.4 million broadband connections. through agency applications $ 7.17 billion Emergency Connectivity Fund in other words, more than 70 percent of available funding. Twelve states and Puerto Rico have filed claims totaling at least $ 100 million each, with California requesting more than $ 800 million.

The program was established in Bidens ‘Covid-19 relief package earlier this year and is part of interim FCC president Jessica Rosenworcels’ push to close the homework gap, a setback in student achievement. caused by their lack of broadband access. The pandemic has highlighted the difference a reliable internet connection can make in student education as never before, Rosenworcel said. The need is there.

Coming Soon: The FCC announced it would open a second 15-day application window from September 28 to October 13 (the first 45-day application period ended on August 13).

FROM GREAT POWER FROM GREAT RESPONSIBILITY Democratic organizers are concerned that EveryAction, a popular digital fundraising and donor management platform used by progressive organizations, has not done enough to combat prolific political spammers and those using email techniques. deceptive. Instead, the platform is expected to help digital fundraising be more ethical and sustainable, they said in a letter published this morning.

We are united in our concern that continued donor exploitation poses a threat to the long-term viability of emails as an effective channel for fundraising and advocacy, read the letter, signed by 50 people affiliated with groups like The Juggernaut Project, Color of Change, Blue State and Democracy for America and sent to EveryAction CEOs and its parent company Apax Partners on Wednesday.

The answer: Looking for a comment, Mike Liddell, general manager of digital at NGP VAN, a unit of EveryAction, pointed to a blog post he authored that was released Wednesday. Any client who engages in illegal actions using our tools, including but not limited to fraud, such as tricking donors into making unintended donations, are subject to immediate termination, he wrote. He added that the company has refused to work with groups that oppose progressive causes.

The Background: In June, a New York Times report detailed concerns that older Americans were victims of “aggressive and misleading” fundraising tactics, such as pre-filled checkboxes on donation forms that cause you agree to recurring donations. These strategies, the report notes, have been used by both Democrats and Republicans.

Following similar Times reports, state and federal officials have increased control over these digital fundraising platforms, such as GOPs WinRed and Democrats ActBlue. The latter announced it would place restrictions on the practice of pre-ticked boxes for repeat donations, while the Republican platform filed a lawsuit to stop state-level investigations.

Bruce Andrews will join Intel as corporate vice president and director of government affairs. He joins SoftBank Group and previously worked for the Department of Commerce, former Senate Commerce President Jay Rockefeller and Ford. … Lindsey Barrett will join the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration, where she will work on Internet policy. She comes from Georgetown Law, where she is a researcher at the Institute for Technology Law and Policy.

Pamela Fusco joins Splunk as head of information security. She was previously EVP and Chief of Global Information Security at Citibank and is a former US Navy cryptologist. James Czerniawski will join Americans for Prosperity as a senior policy analyst for technology and innovation. Previously, he was a technology and innovation policy analyst at the Libertas Institute. The Network Advertising Initiative has hired three people: Cathy Lee and Ryan Smith as compliance and policy consultants, as well as Fatiha Tabibipour as communications and public policy coordinator.

NTIA established the Office for Internet Connectivity and Growth and the Office for Minority Broadband Initiatives. The FCC has again hired USTelecoms Industry Traceback Group to help lead private efforts to trace the source of suspected illegal calls. Excella was selected to help the Pandemic Response Responsibility Committee improve oversight of the distribution of federal pandemic relief funds.

Following the White House cybersecurity meeting, Apple, Google, IBM, Microsoft and Amazon announced various commitments to strengthen cybersecurity implementation and educational efforts.

Exploratory phase: Facebook has begun to promote the formation of an electoral commission that could be formed as an advisory body similar to its supervisory board, the NYT reports.

Internet in Afghanistan: the Taliban are no longer against the Internet; rather, they are tech savvy. But some are concerned that they will also want to limit how Afghans use the internet, reports POLITICOs Laurens Cerulus.

PIPL remark: Privacy law will help China flex its muscles on digital commerce, via WSJ.

Interestingly, “Huawei gets US approvals to buy car chips, setting off a twist,” Reuters reports.

Upcoming Challenges: Apple’s Google App Store Models Address a New Threat in South Korea, via Bloomberg.

OTD Blog: Neal Mohan, YouTube’s chief product officer, offers his thoughts on how the company should tackle disinformation in a corporate blog post.

ICYMI: OnlyFans overturned its decision to ban pornography, reports POLITICOs’ Leonie Cater.

Any suggestions, comments, suggestions? Email them to our team: Bob King ([email protected]), Heidi Vogt ([email protected]), John Hendel ([email protected]), Alexandra S. Levine ([email protected]), Lia Nylen ([email protected]), Emily Birnbaum ([email protected]), and Benjamin Din ([email protected]). Do you have an event for our calendar? Send details to [email protected]. And don’t forget: add @MorningTech and @PoliticoPro on Twitter.

SEE YOU TOMORROW!

[ad_2]