Tax on Google proposed by the French

An interesting idea from France who has proposed a "Google tax" on online advertising revenues to fund subsidies for musicians and newspapers struggling in the digital era.

Interesting in that it was rebuffed by the sector and yet maybe this is one way of cross subsidising the media.

Google after all are profiting from essentially using free content.

According to the Independent

The report recommended ways to boost the availability of cultural material online while also protecting artists' and the media's intellectual property.
It suggested taxing online advertising as well as Internet providers and using the revenue to aid creative sectors, such as the music industry, which are struggling to adapt to the age of downloads.