Klobuchar: Taxing Tech Companies on Data Usage ‘Could Easily Happen’

In an interview with CNN’s Poppy Harlow, 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) voiced her support for taxing big tech companies, saying it is something that “could easily happen.”

She said her idea is to tax the companies on using customers’ data, which is something she added would be something that customers would have the option to opt out of.

Partial transcript as follows:

HARLOW: You want to tax big tech. How would you do that, and will you get enough Republican support to add an additional tax on corporations?

KLOBUCHAR: It could easily happen because you do see some Republicans that are speaking out against some of these practices that tech has in place. And my idea is, if they are going to be using people’s data in large quantities and they are using it or they’re selling it …

HARLOW: Which they do.

KLOBUCHAR: Right. Then the public isn’t getting anything back for it. So, number one, you should be able to opt out and not have your data used if you don’t want it. That’s a bill we don’t have, a bipartisan bill. Then, if your data is used, there should be a tax, not on the consumer but on tech. Then that money can come back to our cyber security because our government is not prepared for attacks on our national security, on business, on our election systems or on individual consumers.

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