Wilkins of BoC urges tech giants to pay their fair share



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Bank of Canada’s outgoing senior vice governor Carolyn Wilkins warned global tech giants on Thursday during one of her latest public appearances as central banker, saying they must “contribute their fair share” to the countries they operate in. .

Wilkins pointed to growing competition in the tech space and advancing antitrust policy, particularly for global tech giants, though he didn’t specify which companies.

“International tax policy reforms led by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and the G20 are needed so that globally active digital companies contribute their fair share,” Wilkins said.

Wilkins commented in a virtual speech at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, where he highlighted how the pandemic has damaged Canada’s ability to generate sustainable businesses, create good jobs and make people more manageable. high debts.

Taxation of tech giants has recently emerged as a key political issue in Ottawa, amid efforts to establish some sort of regulatory framework to ensure more controlled data collection and digital advertising. The framework was included in the Liberal Government’s 2019 Election Platform, which identified domestic tax contributions from multinational corporations such as Netflix Inc., Apple Inc., Google from Alphabet Inc., and Amazon.com Inc.

The new tax plans have been welcomed by Canadian media, particularly newspaper publishers, who have complained about how companies like Google and Facebook Inc. have taken the lion’s share of digital advertising revenue in the country but fail to pay. outlets for their copyrighted content.

Wilkins, whose last day at the Bank of Canada is December 9, said policymakers should recognize that social and economic goals should work together, not conflict with each other. He offered several examples, including the technology space, where innovations can sometimes have a high cost to the livelihoods of workers in the sector.

“The innovations in the past few decades in advanced economies have also contributed to the emergence of superstar companies with significant market power,” Wilkins said in a published copy of his remarks.

“The modern take-all winner effect is amplified because user data has become a new source of monopoly power … It may mean that a handful of companies now account for a huge share of jobs in a given industry or city, leaving many other workers with less bargaining power and stagnant wages “.



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