DIGITAL TAX : TECHY'S GIANTS TESTIFY

WASHINGTON : Alphabet Inc's Google, Facebook and Amazon.com are among the companies that will testify this day, Monday, at a US government hearing on the French government's digital services tax.

In July, the French Senate approved a 3% levy that will apply to revenue from digital services earned in France by companies with more than Euro 25 million in French revenue and Euro 750 million [$838 million] worldwide.

The US Trade Representative's Office in July opened a probe into the new tax it called ''unreasonable'' .

The office could issue new tariffs on French goods or other trade restrictions after the public commented period closes on August 26.

Amazon's International Tax Policy Director Peter Hiltz said in a written testimony for the USTR hearing that more than 10,000 French-based small and medium sized businesses are selling on Amazon's online stores and notified them certain fees will increase by 3% for sales made on Amazon, fr starting October 1.

He added that ''US products and service sold through Amazon's online store in France will cost more as a result'' of the tax [Reuters]