The tax on Google will not raise the price of digital content - they said

In the evening of December 20, I received a noteworthy, and in some ways even an epic letter from Amazon Web Services, I quote:

Welcome to Amazon Web Services,

We inform you that from January 1, 2017, a new procedure for imposing VAT on services in electronic form, according to which Amazon Web Services, Inc. will come into force, will take effect. (“AWS”) and AWS Marketplace there will be an obligation to charge VAT at a rate of 18% for services rendered to Russian customers who are not registered as legal entities or individual entrepreneurs, that is, do not have the corresponding basic state registration number (“OGRN”) or main state registration number of an individual entrepreneur (“OGRNP”).

...
')
If you do not provide information about your OGRN or OGRNP by December 31, 2016, AWS will be forced to charge VAT at the rate of 18% for the relevant services.

...

You can find additional information regarding the new procedure for imposing VAT on services in electronic form on the website of the Federal Tax Service of the Russian Federation: lkio.gnivc.ru/en (English version) or lkio.gnivc.ru/ru (Russian version).

The references at the end of the letter are very interesting, to the questionnaire for companies whose activities are subject to VAT (for Google, Amazon and others with them). Even in English there. I even imagined myself how they sit there in the Netherlands and read, they answer the questionnaire.

And if I understood everything correctly, then the guys just threw 18% on top of their price for individuals. But how so? After all, we were told that the new tax will not affect the price of content. Like, the giants of the IT industry are so giants that 18% of the profits for them is nothing. Here are a couple of quotes:

At the same time, high competition in the regulated area will not allow companies to completely “pass the VAT on to the consumer,” says the director of RAEC. “Many providers of solutions and content are planning-unprofitable companies; these are some investment projects, for example, online cinemas. For them, there is no question of profit, for them it is a question of not losing market share, and as a result, they will be forced to keep prices, ”Plougotarenko told

or here

The law, approved by the Council of the Federation and known as the “tax on Google”, is intended to create equal conditions for Russian and foreign companies on the Internet. But there are concerns that Russian companies, like foreign ones, will have to adapt to the new conditions. At the same time, market mechanisms should not allow a rise in prices for digital content, said Sergey Plugotarenko, director of the Electronic Communications Association, link

Personally, I’m sad that my favorite services will suddenly become more expensive by a substantial 18%, and I’m not just talking about Amazon. This and Apple Music, AppStore, Google Play, Yandex.Music and other convenient and already loved by many services. This will increase the competition not by much, but the elbow of the fiscal authorities in my wallet will become even deeper.

Maybe on GT there are experts on taxes and antitrust laws? Can anyone be able to write and confirm that Google’s tax has nothing to do with competition and the protection of import substitution?

UPD. A very good comment from sachok reveals the essence of the tax and the mechanism of its application.