The Government is being given a stark warning about a proposed digital services tax.

Revenue Minister Stuart Nash says the tax, which would target the likes of Amazon, Google and Facebook, will bring in between $30 and $70 million.

But Chartered Accountants tax leader John Cuthbertson told Mike Hosking the tax could end up costing the country in other ways.

He says there could be responses from multinationals which hurt New Zealand more than a digital tax hurts them.

"Both Australia and the EU have pulled back from implementing this. There are significant risks in going at this alone."

A number of countries - including the UK, Spain, Italy, France, Austria and India - have enacted or announced a DST.