Call by Israeli legislators to tax Google more heavily Israel has become the latest country where some legislators want to tax Google more heavily, as lawmakers draft a bill that would levy royalties on search engine companies for the revenues they earn from running other groups" content. The bill, which backers expect to come for a first reading in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in February or early March, would say that a royalty of 7 per cent earned on advertising revenues should be paid to the content providers. Although the new royalty regime would not single out any company, Israelis have already nicknamed the bill the "Google Law." "Israeli content makers, large and small, are generating quite a bit of traffic relative to the size of the population," Erel Margalit, a member of the left-wing Labour party who is sponsoring the bill, told the Financial Times. They are suffocating; they can't make a living. The initiative's success is far from certain. Mr Margalit said that more than 30 of the 120-seat Knesset, including members from parties in the governing coalition as well as the opposition, joined him in submitting the legislation. He said that an independent committee including representatives of the ministries of justice, communications and culture, along with "three or four experts in the field" would set parameters for the new royalty. Elsewhere in the world, Google has argued successfully to roll back or water down similar laws seeking to tax it. In 2013 Germany approved a law requiring search engines and aggregators to pay a licence fee for running newspaper articles or other media content. However, Google lobbied successfully for the law to allow aggregators to publish short text excerpts for free. France backed off from passing a similar bill last year after Google agreed to pay €60m into a fund to help French newspapers develop their internet presence. The Silicon Valley search group, which employs about 350 people in Israel and last year opened a Tel Aviv campus with right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attending, is voicing its opposition to the proposed legislation. "We believe that innovation and commercial co-operation is a better way forward than new legislation in order to ensure that the content industry thrives online," said Paul Solomon, a company spokesman. "Google works closely with publishers to develop new technology to increase news publishers" audiences, revenue and engagement on their sites, and we will continue doing so." "I have a lot of respect for Google," Mr Margalit said. But I think it is unacceptable that there should be such a big revenue pie from the web, and nothing goes to the content provider. The Israeli lawmaker is also a managing partner of Jerusalem Venture Partners, one of Israel's largest venture capital companies, which has many internet and media-focused companies in its portfolio.