If you don´t like taxes and think its a boring subject then skip this post
Mike AI - yes, in time the internet will be taxed... I hope it will sometime in 2020s
I remember this quote from somewhere:
"The best things in life are free, but sooner or later the government will find a way to tax them"
EU have been talking about this for last 2 years, and the solution they have found is not going to work unless they get the banks, credit card unions (visa & mc), and none EU countries (like the US) to inform about their clients/custormers/citizens. EU are having their member states/countries put into law that every none EU company will have to register in a EU country, and from that country pay VAT to each EU country based on each EU country´s own national rates. Ex. - if you sell to Europeans with credit cards thru a processor like Epoch, then you or Epoch should register in a EU country and pay VAT to each EU country:
Sales made to German surfers = 16% VAT of total subscription price
Sales made to Swedish surfers = 25% VAT of total subscription price
etc.
And with soon to be 25 different countries in the EU, which each have their own VAT rates, then get ready for a accouting mess.
Now there are loop holes. Instead of registering a US company in the EU, then buy a company in some low VAT rate EU country like Luxembourg. Because of "free trade" laws within the EU you can sell products to all EU countries, with Luxembourg 15% VAT rate, and if you sell to surfers from none EU countries like the US, then you will not pay VAT to any EU country (tax free sales from EU to the US).
Now like I mention earlier, then this will not work, because how will the EU get US companies to register and pay tax in the EU, unless the US goverment accepts it (not going to happen with the current Bush goverment)... but then again, politicians from both the US and EU want to tax the Internet, so maybe they will do some tax deal, and "we" will be left holding the bill...
Last edited by Rolo at Jan 1 2003, 07:52 PM