The tax would be a three per cent levy on the digital services revenue a company makes from Canadian users above $20 million in a calendar year. It would apply only to companies with annual worldwide revenue of more than about $1.1 billion. Alphabet Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc. are among those set to be impacted.

The government points out in the budget that at least seven other countries, including the U.K., France, Italy and Spain, already have similar taxes in place.