Tariffs War: EU ready to hit big US tech firms with 3% turnover tax

Large digital companies with significant revenues in the European Union such as Google and Facebook could face a 3% tax on their turnover under a draft proposal by the European Commission.

The proposal, expected to be adopted next week and still subject to changes, updates an earlier draft which envisaged a tax rate of between 1 and 5%.

The tax, if backed by EU states and lawmakers, would only apply to large firms with annual worldwide revenues above €750 million ($924 million) and annual “taxable” revenues above €50 million in the EU.

The threshold for EU revenues has been raised from €10 million initially foreseen to exempt smaller companies and emerging start-ups from the tax.

Large US firms such as Uber, Airbnb and Amazon could also be hit by the new levy, which would apply across the 28 EU countries.

Read more: EU ready to hit big US tech firms with 3% turnover tax – EURACTIV.com

International tourism is booming, but not to the US - main reasons - Donald Trump Presidency and Gun violence?

Donald Trump and Gun Violence in US seen as main culprits

CNBC reported recently that international tourism is growing at its fastest clip in seven years, but the U.S. is on pace for its sharpest drop in foreign travelers since the wake of the recession.

It's a worrying trend for the travel and retail industries. International travelers tend to stay longer and spend more than their domestic counterparts.

In the first seven months of 2017, the U.S. took in 41 million international visitors, a 4 percent decline from the year-earlier period, according to the Commerce Department. That follows a more than 2 percent drop a year earlier.

It's a worrying trend for the travel and retail industries. International travelers tend to stay longer and spend more than their domestic counterparts.

Tourism and retail industry leaders recently launched the Visit U.S. Coalition, which wants backing from the Trump administration to help stem the decline. The coalition was founded by U.S. Travel, a lobbying group whose members include Marriott International and Macy's.

"Fewer visitors means fewer hotel stays, fewer meals eaten in our restaurants, fewer goods purchased in our retail stores, and fewer visits to our national attractions. It also means fewer American jobs and a loss to our economy," said Katherine Lugar, president and CEO of the American Hotel & Lodging Association, a coalition member. "We are committed to working together with the Administration to balance a welcome message with strong security to ensure we don't fall behind to other countries."

Roger Dow, president and CEO of U.S. Travel, called some of President Donald Trump's rhetoric "not helpful" but stopped short of blaming him or his policies for the drop directly. Dow pointed to a strong dollar and competition from other nations
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The White House did not immediately respond to a request to comment.

Note EU-Digest: Many experts in the travel industry are blaming the decline on Donald Trump's continuous nationalistic remarks and hostility towards immigrants, and the increasing gun violence in America by local terrorists.

EU-Digest

USA: Wall Street Volatility: the US economy is not as good as we are being told

You wonder why there is so much commotion about the Wall Street drop. It should not take all these economic wizards to figure out, that with the approved Trump Republican budget, which has cut taxes on one side and greatly increased expenditures on the other side for the Military, Infrastructure, the Mexican Wall, etc., etc., the National US deficit can only increase from what it already is.

One minus one is still a big 0 not 2. Indeed, regardless of all these creative words used by Wall Street, like "versatility", "correction", "volatility", "fundamentals", the US economy is not in good shape,whatever we "the people" are being told.

EU-Digest

Social Media - the monster called Facebook: Instagram, WhatsApp and 13 other companies Facebook has - by Gabrielle Olya

Since Facebook launched in 2004, it has grown to become the biggest social networking site on the planet. With 2.1 billion users, Facebook's stock is worth $180 a share, and the company has a valuation of over $500 billion. Mark Zuckerberg's tech giant has grown dramatically, in part because of the strategic shopping it has done along the way.

Over the years, Facebook has completed 65 mergers and acquisitions involving everything from facial-recognition technology companies to other major social networking platforms like Instagram and WhatsApp.

Although many of Facebook's acquisitions have been for undisclosed amounts, the prices that have been revealed range from $200,000 all the way up to $22 billion.

Read more: Instagram, WhatsApp and 13 other companies Facebook has acquired

Oil Price: Shell plans for 'prolonged downturn' in oil prices (will layoff 6,500 workers) - by Holly Ellyatt

Royal Dutch Shell warned on Thursday that lower oil prices could continue for several years, and said it was planning for a prolonged downturn.

It comes as the Anglo–Dutch multinational reported that earnings in the second quarter, on a current cost of supplies (CCS) basis, came in at $3.4 billion - down from $5.1 billion for the same quarter a year ago. CCS is a way of reporting income that takes into account changes in expenses over the period.

hell also revealed plans to further reduce 2015 capital expenditure (capex) to $30 billion, down by 20 percent from a year ago on the back of a downturn in oil prices, and said it planned to cut 6,500 jobs over the year.

CEO Ben van Beurden said that the company was successfully "reducing our capital spending and operating costs, and delivering a competitive performance in today's oil market downturn."

"We have to be resilient in a world where oil prices remain low for some time, whilst keeping an eye on recovery.

Note EU-Digest : Royal Dutch Shell said on Thursday that its profit fell sharply in the second quarter as a strong performance in marketing and refining failed to offset the brunt of lower oil and gas prices.

The oil giant also said it would cut its capital investment and eliminate 6,500 jobs as the drop in oil and gas prices squeezes its vast global exploration and production operations.

The company, based in The Hague, said earnings adjusted for inventory changes and excluding one-time items were $3.8 billion, compared with $6.1 billion in the same period in 2014.

Ben van Beurden, the company’s chief executive, justified Shell’s plans for exploratory drilling in Arctic waters off Alaska this summer, despite strong opposition from environmental groups, citing the potential to catapult company reserves. 

He said that the oil field “has the potential to be multiple times larger than the largest prospects in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, so it’s huge.”

Read more: Shell plans for 'prolonged downturn' in oil prices