UK taxpayers want higher levies on big tech companies, survey shows

Taxpayers want the UK to increase levies on giant global technology companies such as Facebook owner Meta, Google and Amazon, a survey of Britons’ attitudes on corporate taxes suggests. The polling released on Monday by the Fair Tax Foundation – abody providing businesses with certification around responsible tax conduct – found that 67% of respondents believe that the government should charge higher digital services taxes on multinational technology groups “to increase their overall tax contribution in the UK”. The UK’s digital services tax was introduced in 2020 and is a 2% tax on revenues of search engine, social media or marketplace companies with UK sales of more than £25m, or £500m globally. It is paid by only a handful of tech firms and raised about £800m for the exchequer in 2024-25, according to official figures. However, the levy has had its critics, including those who argue that it results in higher fees for paying users . Predictably, there has also been strong opposition from the US, where the president, Donald Trump, has threatened to impose “a big tariff” on the UK if it does not drop the tax on US technology companies. The Fair Tax Foundation study also found that three-quarters of the British public would prefer to “work for” and “shop with” a business that can prove it is paying its fair share of tax. “This research demonstrates that the UK is still at its core a fair tax nation,” said Paul Monaghan, the foundation’s chief executive. …