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WASHINGTON, April 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The Taxpayers Protection Alliance is condemning draft legislation, released in Australia, that would impose a digital tax on large platforms. The law would impose a charge of 2.25 percent of Australian revenues on covered platforms that fail to strike compensation deals with local news outlets.
In response to the draft legislation, David B. McGarry, Research Director of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, offered the following comment:
“The politics of the digital age are the politics of blaming the biggest, the most visible, but not the most culpable. The decline of local news cannot be attributed to the targeted tech companies, which, conversely, provide a platform for outlets of all sizes. Australian lawmakers propose to upend digital markets in an effort to find a simple—and futile—solution to a changing news environment.
“This is more than just a ‘tax’—the proposal is a punishment designed to force platforms to strike agreements with local news outlets. Retributionist policies of this kind will not promote innovation, benefit consumers, or save local news.
“Two of the three platforms designated for regulation under the proposal are American companies. America’s light-touch approach to digital regulation has helped to foster the world’s leading tech sector—an outcome that is no coincidence. TPA urges President Trump to make clear to the Australian government that the United States will not tolerate its most productive tech giants being subjected to ill-conceived digital taxation.”
The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to educating the public through the research, analysis, and dissemination of information on the government’s impact on the economy.
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