14/01/2021 (Agence Europe) – Having looked at French and Italian taxes (see EUROPE 12631/4), it is now the turn of Austrian and Spanish digital services taxes, as well as those of the United Kingdom, to be deemed discriminatory against American companies. Rather than increasing the number of unilateral measures, “the best outcome would be for countries to come together to find a solution”, said the U.S. Trade Representative, Robert E. Lighthizer, in a statement on Thursday, 14 January. The investigation into these taxes was launched last June (see EUROPE 12497/28) and to date, no retaliatory measures have been announced. An “update” on the status of the digital services tax investigations being considered against the Czech Republic and the European Union has also been published. The U.S. authorities are particularly concerned that the EU may take an “approach to digital services taxes that could be discriminatory, unreasonable, and burdensome and restrictive to U.S. commerce”, it says. See the document: https://bit.ly/3nJ0NEk (MF)