Civil society campaigners have written to Prime Minister Andy Burnham urging him to defend the UK's Digital Services Tax (DST) ahead of his meeting with Donald Trump in New York. Trump views the 2020 tax as an unfair trade barrier for US companies and has threatened substantial tariffs if the UK maintains it. This matters because the DST raised £800 million in 2024-25 and represents a significant policy decision about how the UK will respond to international pressure over corporate taxation.

The DST applies a 2 per cent tax to certain revenues from UK users of search engines, social media services, and online marketplaces, targeting companies generating over £500 million globally and more than £25 million from UK users. Campaigning organisations including Tax Justice UK, the National Education Union, 38 Degrees, and others are calling for the government not to scrap the tax but to extend it to artificial intelligence companies and other digital services. With government borrowing rising, they argue that scrapping the revenue would be particularly damaging ahead of the Chancellor's first Budget, and that the UK should collect more from digital giants such as Amazon, Google, Meta, eBay, and TikTok, not less.