This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Chen, J.-r. Articles by Smekal, C. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Should the WTO deal with e-trade taxation issues?

Centre for the Study of International Institutions (CSI), University of Innsbruck, Universitaetsstr. 15, A6020 Innsbruck

Christian Smekal

Centre for the Study of International Institutions (CSI), University of Innsbruck, Universitaetsstr. 15, A6020 Innsbruck

Electronic commerce may be a great equalizer that helps to reduce, or even to eliminate, distance-related barriers to trade, but it can also exacerbate a so-called ‘digital dividend’ vis-à-vis countries with technological and infrastructural deficiencies, especially developing countries. In the following we concentrate on trade distortion caused by taxation of e-trade in intangible goods. We believe this will have a particular ramification for the developing world. General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) provisions may be relevant to many concerns with respect to the regulations of e-commerce, such as online privacy protection, illegal or illicit content, cyber crime and fraud, en-forcement of contracts, consumer protection, and taxation. In this paper, we will focus our debate mainly on the issues of taxation of e-trade with respect to the two basic principles of the WTO, that is. the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) and the National Treatment (NT) principles.

Key Words: e-trade • taxation • trade distortion

Progress in Development Studies, Vol. 9, No. 4, 339-348 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/146499340900900407


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?