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Russia wants to force Apple & Google to pay more tax, apply 18% VAT to App Store purchases

German-Klimenko

In what Bloomberg describes as ‘a 90-minute interview peppered with expletives,’ Russia’s new Internet advisor has said that he wants to force Apple and Google to pay more taxes.

German Klimenko is pushing to raise taxes on U.S. companies to help level the playing field for Russian competitors such as Yandex and Mail.ru […]

Bloomberg says that he has an interesting ally in this aim …

The Putin adviser already has an ally in parliament: Andrey Lugovoi, one of two former KGB officers accused by a U.K. judge of assassinating former agent Alexander Litvinenko, a vocal Putin critic, in London in 2006.

Lugovoi wants to apply 18% VAT (sales tax) to App Store and iTunes purchases, though this tax would be paid by customers rather than by the companies themselves. EC countries already apply VAT in this way.

Klimenko has described Google as a “potential threat to our national security” as the company has the ability to track “everything” and won’t respond to requests for information from Russian law enforcement agencies. He has also said that he wants the Russian government to switch from Windows to a Linux-based open-source OS.

As Patently Apple notes, Klimenko (above) appears to have no objection to using Apple products.

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Comments

  1. dcj001 - 8 years ago

    Ben,

    Why do you say, “Russia wants to force Apple & Google to pay more tax,” when it is customers who pay the tax, and not Apple and Google?

    • That’s what I don’t get from the title as well.

    • dcj001 - 8 years ago

      The title of this article should be corrected to say:

      Russia wants to force Apple’s & Google”s customers to pay more tax,

    • Ben Lovejoy - 8 years ago

      It’s what Klimenko has said. The VAT proposal is a separate one by Lugovoi.

      • Jassi Sikand - 8 years ago

        It doesn’t come across that way. Maybe you can make it clearer?

      • Ben Lovejoy - 8 years ago

        I’m honestly not seeing how this could be made any clearer.

  2. In Slovakia we already have 20% so meh.

  3. Doug Aalseth - 8 years ago

    Doesn’t make any difference who, Apple, or Apple’s customers pay the tax. Almost all of it will end up in the pockets of Putin or his cronies.

  4. Jake Becker - 8 years ago

    it’s government, what else is it supposed to do?

Author

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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