Since digital services taxes generate little revenue, place the cost on European consumers and not on large digital companies as intended, and risk escalating trade disputes, policymakers should rethink their strategy.
14 min read
Europe’s turn toward the UN is ultimately not a sign that governments are ready to resolve fundamental disputes over taxing rights. If anything, international cooperation on the goal that matters most—fair treatment of cross-border trade—is crumbling.
The US, as the world’s largest services exporter, has a stronger interest in combating discriminatory services taxation than in pursuing tariffs.
44 min read
The global economy needs policymakers who are invested in seeing growth recover and avoiding unnecessary barriers to cross-border trade and investment. The challenges countries face will become even more difficult to solve in a stagnant global economy.
The United Nations (UN) is preparing to flex its muscles on international tax policy. Several developing countries say the OECD’s approach favors richer countries at their expense, and the UN hopes to fix this.
5 min read
Despite ongoing multilateral negotiations in the OECD, about half of all European OECD countries have either announced, proposed, or implemented their own unilateral digital services tax.
7 min read
The UN tax committee will be considering a change to the UN’s model tax treaty that, if adopted and implemented, could result in digital companies paying more taxes in countries where their customers are located even if those companies do not have physical locations there.
5 min read