A joint statement from the US and Italy spoke of creating a “non-discriminatory” environment for digital services, in a signal that Italy may be considering scrapping a levy on sales from large tech companies such as Google, Facebook parent Meta, Apple and Amazon.
The statement, which followed the first official meeting of Italy president Giorgia Meloni with US president Donald Trump last week, said the two leaders highlighted the importance of information technology to “enabling free enterprise across the Atlantic”.
The leaders agreed that a “non-discriminatory environment” for digital services taxation was necessary to enable investments from cutting-edge tech companies, the statement said.
Digital tax
Italy applies a 3 percent levy on revenue from internet transactions for digital companies with sales of at least 750 million euros (£643m), bringing in less than 500m euros in revenue for the state each year.
Such taxes have been a thorn in the side of US administrations for years, while European governments have faced public anger at the low taxation levels for multinational tech companies.
The levy is a complex issue for Meloni, as some in her ruling coalition want her to increase pressure on large tech firms to secure funding needed to back costly measures that could otherwise upset Italy’s public finances, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Italian economy minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said last Thursday he supported bilateral discussions on tech taxation that did not go through the EU.
He said he would meet US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent at a G20 meeting this week.
The joint statement also welcomed US investments in AI and cloud infrastructure in Italy to support the country as a regional data hub for the Mediterranean and North Africa.
Amazon’s AWS cloud unit said last year it would invest 1.2bn euros in Italy over five years to expand its data centre operations.
Cross-Atlantic deals
In January Bloomberg reported that Italy was in advanced negotiations with SpaceX for a deal to provide secure telecommunications for the government via the company’s Starlink subsidiary, the largest such project in Europe.
The project had reportedly been approved by Italy’s intelligence services and defence ministry.
The 1.5 billion euro deal would reportedly provide a full range of top-level encryption for government telephone and internet services.
The plan would also include communications for the Italian military in the Mediterranean area and the roll-out of “direct-to-cell” satellite services for emergencies such as militant attacks or natural disasters.