On the Possibility and Desirability of Taxing E-Commerce

Abstract

Over the past decade the taxation of e-commerce has been widely discussed among politicians, tax law experts and economists. To put some perspective on this issue it is analyzed to what extent e-commerce can actually be taxed and the severity of the ensuing tax revenue losses following from future growth of e-commerce is discussed. Since the US and the EU cases differ substantially they are considered separately. Subsequently various arguments supporting the view that e-commerce should receive preferential tax treatment are considered. Although no firm recommendations can be provided some interesting topics for future research are suggested.E-commerce, commodity taxation, tax principles, revenue loss, preferential tax treatment, auditing