

The Associated Press





PARIS - France's lower house of parliament has approved a pioneering tax on internet giants like Google, Amazon and Facebook.

The bill adopted Thursday aims to stop multinationals from avoiding taxes by setting up headquarters in low-tax EU countries. Currently, the companies pay nearly no tax in countries where they have large sales like France.

The bill foresees a 3% tax on the French revenues of digital companies with global revenue of more than 750 million euros ($847 million), and French revenue over 25 million euros. It could affect U.S. companies including Airbnb and Uber as well as those from China and Europe.

The bill goes to the Senate next week, and the French government hopes other countries follow suit. The tech industry warns it could lead to higher costs for consumers.