TORONTO (Reuters) – Ottawa should require U.S. tech companies such as Netflix (NFLX.O), Amazon (AMZN.O) and Facebook (FB.O) to collect the same taxes as Canadian companies and also be subject to the same requirements for supporting domestically produced content, a Canadian government-mandated panel recommended on Wednesday.
“Our recommendations for reform are practical and actionable, providing the legislative powers and regulatory tools necessary to seize the opportunities and address the risks of the digital age,” the panel’s chairwoman, Janet Yale, a veteran Canadian telecommunications executive, said in a news release accompanying the report.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government created the six-member panel in 2018 to examine Canada’s decades-old broadcasting and telecoms laws, and advise the government on how to bring the legislation up to date with the current digital landscape.
The report stated that it was not recommending a so-called “Netflix Tax” by charging consumers an extra levy. Instead, the report recommended requiring online streaming services such as Netflix to “invest in Canadian programming that they believe will attract and appeal to Canadians.”
Netflix said it looks forward to working with the government as it modernizes Canada’s broadcasting laws.
Facebook said it has long supported “creation and discoverability” of Canadian content and would continue to invest in the Canadian news ecosystem. The company was reviewing the panel’s recommendations and welcomed “ongoing dialogue with the Government of Canada on these important subjects,” a Facebook spokeswoman said.
