European net taxation

from the the-European-commission-tries-to-kill-the-net dept

Tue, Feb 8th 2000 9:22am — Ryan

It seems that the European commission maybe considering further taxation on the internet, focusing particularly on "virtual goods". It seems ridiculus to me that they would be considering putting up further barriers to E-commerce here in Europe, considering Europe is already lagging behind the US. Most things are taxed to death anyway here in Europe. Further taxation on the net could increase the gap in net adoption, thanks to some backwards technophobes in the European commission.

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Wolf, 9 Feb 2000 @ 12:15pm

Internet taxation in Europe
It is impossible to dream about internet trade without taxation. Get used to the idea. If the money does not come from the internet then the states have to raise taxes in another way. Besides, it is totaly unfair to get things tax free on the net, while the shop downtown goes broke because nobady want's to pay his price plus tax. Think about it. However, what does not work is the archaic way of taxation in the USA. Big marshmallows are taxed, little ones are not. The best possible way was a kind of value added tax across the globe that would be the same everywhere. If not that states would have to come up with a whole new system of taxation to make up for the losses.
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Mike (profile), 9 Feb 2000 @ 12:28pm

Re: Internet taxation in Europe
Why is it impossible to dream of internet trade without taxation other than you saying so? I don't see how sales tax is a necessary right of the government. There are states that don't have a sales tax, so that certainly suggests it's possible to not tax. The internet doesn't tax now and it's doing fine. The economy is doing great. I don't hear the states complaining that they're running out of funds because they can't tax on the internet. The overall economy is doing well, and they're getting their tax money from corporations and individuals who are doing well also.
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