Taxing digital economy the end of optimism

Abstract

The rapidly developing digital economy seriously affects the tax systems of different countries. At the end of XX century there was an optimistic approach to the taxation of digital economy. It was considered that there is no need for the new taxes, new tax regimes and the traditional concepts of international taxation were expected to sustain the new challenges. It was also considered that even with implementation of new technologies tax rules should keep on being clear and simple with high level of certainty, so that taxpayers could anticipate the tax consequences in advance. The digital economy was supported and exempt from taxation. Nowadays the possibility of imposing the new special taxes on digital economy is considered and some countries already introduced those taxes. The pessimism in respect of digital economy is now prevailing in the tax systems. However, the tightening trend in the tax regimes may entail the discrimination of the new technologies against those, which were developed before and already entered into the markets. The controversies between the technological center and periphery play certain role here. For the countries of technology periphery to join the tightening trend means to curb development of their domestic hightech industry as discrimination in taxation of foreign countries is still considered inacceptable. It is obvious that the regulatory pendulum: from the most optimistic to the extreme pessimistic approach, until the desperate protectionist measures, should be balanced with the time. The panic in the publications about the prospective of the digital economy taxation shall subside and turn to the constructive suggestions without unnecessary fiscal focus.