China; Call to tax tech giants with huge user databy Victor Zhong
China should consider imposing a digital tax on technology companies that hold copious amounts of user data and it is worth looking into a levy on tech companies similar to some overseas countries, a security watchdog official was quoted as saying by Beijing News in the latest sign of widening government scrutiny of the sector.
"Some third-party platform-like enterprises hold a large amount of user data, just like holding precious mineral mines," said Yao Qian, science and technology supervision bureau chief at the China Securities Regulatory Commission, at a forum held in Beijing.
"Coupons and red-pocket subsidies offered by those platforms at their early stages of development are used more as a marketing approach," Yao said.
"As the real creators of corporate value, users have not shared real benefits from revenues that have been made."
"As representatives of the public, governments should study in depth whether it's necessary for them to levy digital taxes to platform-like enterprises, just like they levy taxes on natural resources," said Yao.
China has vowed to strengthen oversight of its big tech firms, which include the likes of Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings, which rank among the world's largest and most valuable.
Source: The Standard
https://www.thestandard.com.hk/section- ... -user-data
It's all about "how much you made when you were right" & "how little you lost when you were wrong"