Re: Taxation of digital e-commerce.

From: John Gaskill <jg_at_info-central-usa.com>
Date: Mon 20 May 2002 09:17:14 -0600

Two primary issues seem to be involved here:

1.) Local Governmental Control over its citizens; and,

2.) Local Government Control over its revenue sources.

The first issue is really more important to the politicians now in power
as the cure for the the second issue is simply raising local taxes.

The Internet has brought lots of new ideas to ordinary people
around the globe. These ideas result from communicating directly
with people in other lands who are not relatives. Most of this
communication results from email, though web sites also have
some effect. Among these ideas is buying stuff conveniently
and getting a good price on it.

What people have learned is that people are pretty much the
same the world over and politicians are pretty much the same
the world over. People want to live in peace and be left alone
to their personal pursuits. Politicians want acclaim and to be
elected to put their "world view" into place as part of local,
regional, national or global policy.

Because people with Internet access no longer must travel abroad
to learn that people are pretty much the same everywhere,
politicians are having a more difficult task in demonizing or
branding the peoples of different countries or places as
something other than what they are -- i.e., just people.

But politicians require other peoples' money to institute their world
view. In almost all cases, politicians view the citizenry not as a
people to serve, but as a group to direct. Politicians are no longer
leaders, they are niche builders who raise followings at someone
else's expense.

In the USA, the Democrat party no longer says its ideas and policies
are better than those of the Republican party. People know that is
hogwash. What Democrat politicians say today is that the ideas of
Republican politicians are "dangerous to our way of life." The
Republican politicians say pretty much the same things about the
ideas of the Democrat politicians.

EU politicians and European local political leaders are looking
to cover their asses in old age by assuring some sort of income
stream that they can live off of. Attempting to tax outside of their
jurisdictions is another example of such behavior. Unfortunately,
the dark underbelly of this issue has ominous overtones for
everyone.

The only firms likely to adhere to such a call for VAT assessments
and collections and payments to the EU taxing agency are global
corporations interested in doing future business in Europe.

EU taxing authorities will seek to deny access to European consumers
to those offshore sites which don't play along, effectively driving business
to the global corps. Big corporations are always looking for new ways
to put competitors out of business that are easier than by competing.
Getting politicians to do it for you is one of the easier and legal ways.

Because telephone and internet access is more concentrated in Europe
than the U.S., it is a simple thing for these taxing agencies to approach ISPs
in Europe and tell them to block access to such and such an IP address,
thereby effectively shutting the doors to competition.

By staging the issue as one over taxes as the "lifeblood of EU society,"
the peoples' eyes are averted from the real issue which is the elimination
of unwanted competition and the difficulty of taxing cross border sales.

As Bob Dylan once said, "The times, they are a changin," and never
has it been more true than today.


You asked Roberto.


John Gaskill
jg_at_Info-Central-USA.com
http://Info-Central-USA.com





Received on Mon May 20 2002 - 10:17:14 CDT