Friday, February 10, 2017

Uniform taxation proposal for web entities

The question of taxing activity on the web has been deferred for quite some time but as someone who has thought about gaining revenue on a global scale will admit am very interested in a uniform solution so have ideas for one.

To me the simplest solution is to have a global body tasked with gathering taxes at a globally decided percentage of revenue per user, or per transaction above flexible minimums which nations could set. So a web entity would simply report same to that body which would also collect those taxes and then distribute to nations.

Nations then would be tasked with further distribution, like here in the US down to the state level, where the state might then distribute down to the local level.

There is still some big data in there so that enough information is available for that to happen, but other than sharing that data the web entity has a simplified taxation position, and can be protected from worrying about granular distribution.

So the web entity would see only one taxing authority. That global taxing authority would only see nations for distribution. And then those nations would worry about the rest.

Some might wonder why such a system would be best but in my case for example am lucky enough to have a product in over 100 countries which is an open source software product so don't and won't have to worry about taxes, as is freely shared! That's cool and feel lucky is an option. Open source is one of the greatest things that thankfully arrived with the rise of the web.

But producing something for profit is daunting enough a prospect that will admit I'd just as soon not worry about lots of things, especially how could one handle just the taxes from a few nations let alone over 100?

The web by easing distribution means that web entities that are relatively small companies could potentially sell valuable products on large scales but be incapable of handling vastly different taxation rules. And even large corporations am sure find that burdensome though guess some may be facing it now. But nations just want the money, right?

Having globally agreed upon taxation levels could facilitate collection of tax revenue while removing impulse to cheat, facilitate business creation so a small company anywhere in the world could potentially handle worldwide product sales, and leave up to nations to still work through how they wish the money to further distribute.

These ideas are just some that occur to me pondering things, without claims of expertise with it noted am looking at my own interests in potentially having a company with a global product which operates for profit with the belief that in time there will be widespread taxation. It should not be construed as a claim of expertise in any related area. Nor do I claim it is the best solution or that it will lead to a solution as am simply putting forward ideas. If these ideas have been shared by others already, great!

Am not currently looking at anything on this subject though so as far as I know am putting out ideas that are products of my creativity, but I read a lot from all over. Besides the concept is simple enough I'd be surprised if not similar to ideas out there.

These ideas I consider open source, freely given to the world for its use, or can just be ignored. Benefit to me if used greatly outweigh any other so would make no further claims against anyone who used them. And further do not even ask for attribution back to myself.

Well that was fun. And yeah am NO expert in legal things, so I have to guess at things to handle potential areas where yeah, someone might get excited when there is no reason. These are just some ideas occurred to me today I wanted to share, and they are freely given.


James Harris

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