The Financial Post reports in its Friday edition that the federal government is proceeding with a digital-services tax on large foreign technology companies, despite warnings of trade retaliation from the United States. A Bloomberg dispatch to the Post says a government notice posted on-line indicated the tax came into effect as of June 28. It will apply for calendar year 2024, with that first year covering taxable revenue earned since Jan. 1, 2022. The tax is a 3-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 $1.1-billion. It will primarily hit major U.S. firms, with Alphabet and Meta Platforms among those set to be affected. U.S. lawmakers and government officials view the tax as unfair and have threatened to retaliate if Canada moved forward with it. Legislation including the tax passed last month, but the government had not decided when it would come into force, until now. Ottawa has noted that at least seven other countries, including the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain, already have similar taxes in place. The tax would bring in $7.2-billion over five years.