Big tech firms must pay taxes

The government’s dealing with multinational technology firms has always been a messy affair. The Centre has till date been unable to come up with an appropriate policy to tax profits made by these companies in India. Following a Bengaluru-based Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) order of last year, the Modi government seems to be moving on plans to tax companies like Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple. Like many European geographies, India seeks a ‘fool-proof’ framework to tax big technology firms that have never paid a penny in taxes. This may not go well with US President Donald Trump, who has been fuming that several of America’s trade partners, including Italy, Spain, France and Australia, have begun to tax large technology companies.