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EU Web Tax Proposed

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the tipping-the-first-dominoe dept.

SomeGirl writes "Well, it's finally happening. The EU is proposing a Web tax." Its only a matter of time I s'pose... but quick! By a bunch of stuff while its still tax free! I recommend Moby's 'Play' and the Tenchi in Tokyo DVDs, but stay away from those VW Bugs that they're selling online (Ooo! Look! A Special Color!)

3 of 211 comments (clear)

  1. How will this be enforced? by GrayMouser_the_MCSE · · Score: 4

    This sounds similar to the mail order tax tried here in the U.S where states may require out of state businesses to collect sales tax, but where there is little means of enforcement.

    And as this crosses national lines, not just state/province lines, how can the EU hope to enforce this. Will they block sites which offer items for sale? Restrict deliveries?

    It seems like an idea that's bad on paper and could only get worse in its implementation.

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    Of course I use Microsoft. Setting up a stable unix network is no challenge ;p
  2. You got it all wrong, read the article dammit ! by Betcour · · Score: 4

    They want to tax services sold over the Web from outside EU. For products (ie DVD and books) there's allready a tax paid at the customs.

  3. amazing... by jacobm · · Score: 5

    What do you know- the first thing I see after returning from the article submission screen is the exact article I submitted, posted with exactly the spin I feared it would get posted with.

    The CNNfn article is misleading- they shouldn't have called it a "web tax," which to most of us means "tax on using the web." What the EU actually proposed was a value-added tax on goods and services, sold over the Internet by non-EU businesses, to customers inside the EU in order to level the playing field for EU-based companies that already have to charge a value-added tax. It is not, in the usual meaning of the word, a "web tax." Now you know.
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    -jacob

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    -jacob