Taxation of Digital Platforms

Abstract

Tech giants such as Google and Facebook generate significant amounts of advertising income, which is mainly reported in low-tax countries. This has started a policy discussion about how to re-align the locations of value creation and taxation. The success of the business model of these digital platforms relies on the existence of indirect network effects, which are the prime reason why these platforms exist and generate advertising income. To account for these effects, conventional tax policy needs to be adjusted. This includes an adjusted concept of nexus, which should rely on the location of users because they generate the relevant indirect network effects. The recent European Union (EU) proposal of a digital service tax goes in this direction and constitutes a policy option for the Netherlands.