Large US technology companies often pay less than 1% tax on their profits in Europe.

Omissions

• The claim cites no source; the 'less than 1%' figure for US tech profits in Europe originates in older (2018-2022) research on profit shifting (e.g., Dinkel et al. 2018 'Do US Firms Pay Less Tax than their European Peers?', cited in the Greens/EFA compilation found), which is more than 2 years old relative to the session date.
• No 2024-2026 data specifically reporting effective tax rates below 1% for US tech companies in the EU was found; the most recent EU-level figure located (EU Tax Observatory) covers the 2014-2022 trend and refers to all multinationals, not US tech specifically.
• The Fair Tax Foundation's 'Silicon Six' report (April 2025) and ITEP data (2025) concern global and US federal effective tax rates respectively (e.g., 4.9% average federal rate for four Big Tech firms), not their effective tax rates in Europe.
• Context the MEP omits: since fiscal year 2024, the EU Minimum Taxation Directive (Pillar Two) requires large MNEs to pay at least 15% effective tax in each EU jurisdiction, which makes a sub-1% effective rate in Europe implausible for recent periods unless profits are booked through jurisdictions with qualifying exclusions; no source confirming actual post-2023 effective rates was located.
• Search limit was reached, so the available evidence is incomplete.

Sources

• PrimaryOECD — Corporate Tax Statistics 2025, Corporate effective tax ratesThe effective average tax rate reflects the average tax contribution a firm makes on an investment project earning above-zero economic profits.
• PrimaryOECD — Corporate Tax Statistics 2026, Corporate effective tax ratesThe average STR has declined slightly less over the same time period (0.8 p.p.), from 22.0% in 2017 to 21.2% in 2025, implying that changes to [the tax base]...
• AcademicEU Tax Observatory — PublicationsThe effective tax rate of multinational companies declined by 2.7 percentage points in the European Union between 2014 and 2022, shows a new EU Tax Observatory publication.
• SecondaryFair Tax Foundation — Silicon Six global tax gapIn April 2025, the Fair Tax Foundation published a report, The Silicon Six and their enduring global tax gap, the long-run effective tax rate of the Silicon Six...
• SecondaryITEP — Four Big Tech Companies Avoid $51 Billion in TaxesFour Big Tech Companies Avoided $51 Billion in Federal Income Tax in 2025. Collectively these tech giants paid an effective tax rate of 4.9%.