[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/ceswps/_8708.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Taxing Goods and Services in a Digital Era

Author

Listed:
  • David R. Agrawal
  • William F. Fox
Abstract
Taxing consumption in the digital economy poses unique challenges for fiscal authorities. Recent institutional reforms, such as states changing remittance rules for the sales and use tax following the Supreme Court decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, were enacted in order to increase tax revenue collections and create a more neutral tax system. Although these reforms induced more remote vendors to remit taxes on a destination basis, the revenue gains were modest, consistent with most large online vendors remitting taxes prior to the reforms. Instead, following the recent large shock to online shopping from the Covid-19 pandemic, the shift to destination-based taxation has redistributed revenues between large and small local jurisdictions. Increased online shopping raises revenue growth in small jurisdictions while contracting revenues in large jurisdictions. But, Wayfair is not the end of the story: technological changes that induce new consumption patterns, promise new challenges for fiscal authorities. Critical challenges for the next decades include limiting administrative and compliance costs of enforcing taxes in a digital world, determining filing thresholds, dealing with online marketplaces and facilitators, and taxing the consumption of digital services from two-sided platforms. With respect to digital services, we discuss whether consumption taxes should be imposed on both monetized platforms and non-monetized platforms such as social media, and the mechanisms for doing so.

Suggested Citation

  • David R. Agrawal & William F. Fox, 2020. "Taxing Goods and Services in a Digital Era," CESifo Working Paper Series 8708, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8708
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp8708.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David R. Agrawal & William F. Fox, 2017. "Taxes in an e-commerce generation," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 24(5), pages 903-926, September.
    2. Andrew J. Bibler & Keith F. Teltser & Mark J. Tremblay, 2021. "Inferring Tax Compliance from Pass-Through: Evidence from Airbnb Tax Enforcement Agreements," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 103(4), pages 636-651, October.
    3. David R. Agrawal, 2015. "The Tax Gradient: Spatial Aspects of Fiscal Competition," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 7(2), pages 1-29, May.
    4. Andrea Lassmann & Federica Liberini & Antonio Russo & Ángel Cuevas & Rubén Cuevas, 2020. "Global Spillovers of Taxation in the Online Advertising Market. Theory and Evidence from Facebook," CESifo Working Paper Series 8149, CESifo.
    5. Agrawal, David R. & Mardan, Mohammed, 2019. "Will destination-based taxes be fully exploited when available? An application to the U.S. commodity tax system," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 128-143.
    6. Ballard, Charles L. & Lee, Jaimin, 2007. "Internet Purchases, Cross-Border Shopping, and Sales Taxes," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 60(4), pages 711-725, December.
    7. Whitney B. Afonso, 2019. "The Barriers Created by Complexity: A State-by-State Analysis of Local Sales Tax Laws in Light of the Wayfair Ruling," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 72(4), pages 777-800, December.
    8. Schmidheiny, Kurt, 2006. "Income segregation and local progressive taxation: Empirical evidence from Switzerland," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(3), pages 429-458, February.
    9. Brian Baugh & Itzhak Ben‐David & Hoonsuk Park, 2018. "Can Taxes Shape an Industry? Evidence from the Implementation of the “Amazon Tax”," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 73(4), pages 1819-1855, August.
    10. Donald Bruce & William F. Fox & LeAnn Luna, 2015. "E-Tailer Sales Tax Nexus and State Tax Policies," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 68(3S), pages 735-766, September.
    11. Elschner, Christina, 2013. "Special tax regimes and the choice of organizational form: Evidence from the European Tonnage Taxes," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 206-216.
    12. Glenn Ellison & Sara Fisher Ellison, 2009. "Tax Sensitivity and Home State Preferences in Internet Purchasing," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 1(2), pages 53-71, August.
    13. Kanbur, Ravi & Keen, Michael, 1993. "Jeux Sans Frontieres: Tax Competition and Tax Coordination When Countries Differ in Size," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(4), pages 877-892, September.
    14. Burge, Gregory S. & Piper, Brian, 2012. "Strategic Fiscal Interdependence: County and Municipal Adoptions of Local Option Sales Taxes," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 65(2), pages 387-415, June.
    15. Sadka, Efraim, 1977. "A theorem on uniform taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 387-391, June.
    16. Burge, Gregory & Rogers, Cynthia, 2011. "Local option sales taxes and consumer spending patterns: Fiscal interdependence under multi-tiered local taxation," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 46-58, January.
    17. Niels Johannesen & Patrick Langetieg & Daniel Reck & Max Risch & Joel Slemrod, 2020. "Taxing Hidden Wealth: The Consequences of US Enforcement Initiatives on Evasive Foreign Accounts," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 12(3), pages 312-346, August.
    18. Karl Russo, 2019. "Superiority of the VAT to Turnover Tax as an Indirect Tax on Digital Services," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 72(4), pages 857-880, December.
    19. Christian Gillitzer & Henrik Jacobsen Kleven & Joel Slemrod, 2017. "A Characteristics Approach to Optimal Taxation: Line Drawing and Tax‐Driven Product Innovation," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 119(2), pages 240-267, April.
    20. Wildasin, David E, 1990. "R. M. Haig: Pioneer Advocate of Expenditure Taxation?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 28(2), pages 649-660, June.
    21. Benjamin Y. Clark, 2020. "The Impacts of Autonomous Vehicles on Local Government Budgeting and Finance: Case of Solid Waste Collection," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 73(1), pages 259-282, March.
    22. Charles McLure, 1999. "Electronic Commerce and the State Retail Sales Tax: A Challenge to American Federalism," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 6(2), pages 193-224, May.
    23. Mr. Michael Keen, 2000. "VIVAT, CVAT and All That: New Forms of Value-Added Tax for Federal Systems," IMF Working Papers 2000/083, International Monetary Fund.
    24. Waseem, Mazhar, 2023. "Overclaimed refunds, undeclared sales, and invoice mills: Nature and extent of noncompliance in a value-added tax," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).
    25. Austan Goolsbee & Michael F. Lovenheim & Joel Slemrod, 2010. "Playing with Fire: Cigarettes, Taxes, and Competition from the Internet," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 2(1), pages 131-154, February.
    26. David R. Agrawal, 2021. "The Internet as a Tax Haven?," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 13(4), pages 1-35, November.
    27. Ali Hortaçsu & F. Asís Martínez-Jerez & Jason Douglas, 2009. "The Geography of Trade in Online Transactions: Evidence from eBay and MercadoLibre," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(1), pages 53-74, February.
    28. James R. Hines Jr., 2007. "Taxing Consumption and Other Sins," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(1), pages 49-68, Winter.
    29. John L. Mikesell & Justin M. Ross, 2019. "After Wayfair: What Are State Use Taxes Worth?," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 72(4), pages 801-820, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Pavel Peterka & Dominik Stroukal, 2024. "Evidence Against the Undertaxation of Digital Companies from the Weighted Effective Tax Rate Method Analysis," International Journal of Economic Sciences, European Research Center, vol. 13(1), pages 58-80, May.
    2. Agrawal, David R. & Shybalkina, Iuliia, 2023. "Online shopping can redistribute local tax revenue from urban to rural America," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    3. Xuefeng Shao & Shi Chen, 2024. "Research on Tax Compliance Incentive Effects of Platform Companies from the Perspective of Incomplete Contract – An Empirical Study Based on China," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 26(65), pages 330-330, February.
    4. Hiroshi Aiura & Hikaru Ogawa, 2024. "Does e-commerce ease or intensify tax competition? Destination principle versus origin principle," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 31(3), pages 702-735, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Agrawal, David R. & Shybalkina, Iuliia, 2023. "Online shopping can redistribute local tax revenue from urban to rural America," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    2. Fox, William F. & Hargaden, Enda Patrick & Luna, LeAnn, 2022. "Statutory incidence and sales tax compliance: Evidence from Wayfair," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    3. David R. Agrawal, 2021. "The Internet as a Tax Haven?," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 13(4), pages 1-35, November.
    4. David R. Agrawal & William F. Fox, 2017. "Taxes in an e-commerce generation," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 24(5), pages 903-926, September.
    5. Beem, Richard & Bruce, Donald, 2021. "Failure to launch: Measuring the impact of sales tax nexus standards on business activity," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    6. Hiroshi Aiura & Hikaru Ogawa, 2024. "Does e-commerce ease or intensify tax competition? Destination principle versus origin principle," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 31(3), pages 702-735, June.
    7. Agrawal, David R., 2014. "LOST in America: Evidence on local sales taxes from national panel data," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 147-163.
    8. Benjamin Harbolt, 2019. "Tax Avoidance through E-Commerce and Cross-Border Shopping," CESifo Working Paper Series 7814, CESifo.
    9. Ishuan Li & Robert Simonson & Guncha Babajanova & Matthew Tuomala, 2016. "Smartphone Diffusion and Consumer Price Comparison Shopping Behavior: Implications for the Marketplace Fairness Act," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 36(3), pages 1337-1353.
    10. Wang, Lingxiao & Zheng, Yuqing, 2024. "Why are grocery foods taxed in the United States? Theory and spatial evidence from multilevel government interactions," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    11. David R. Agrawal & David E. Wildasin, 2019. "Sales Taxation, Spatial Agglomeration, and the Internet," CESifo Working Paper Series 7742, CESifo.
    12. Liran Einav & Dan Knoepfle & Jonathan Levin & Neel Sundaresan, 2014. "Sales Taxes and Internet Commerce," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(1), pages 1-26, January.
    13. Andrew J. Bibler & Keith F. Teltser & Mark J. Tremblay, 2021. "Inferring Tax Compliance from Pass-Through: Evidence from Airbnb Tax Enforcement Agreements," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 103(4), pages 636-651, October.
    14. Hiroshi Aiura & Hikaru Ogawa, 2021. "Does E-Commerce Ease or Intensify Tax Competition? Destination Principle vs. Origin Principle," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-1169, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    15. Agrawal, David R. & Mardan, Mohammed, 2019. "Will destination-based taxes be fully exploited when available? An application to the U.S. commodity tax system," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 128-143.
    16. Melissa Gentry & Nadia Greenhalgh-Stanley & Shawn M. Rohlin & Jeffrey P. Thompson, 2020. "Dynamic Sales Tax Competition: Evidence from Panel Data at the Border," Working Papers 20-5, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    17. Agrawal, David R., 2016. "Local fiscal competition: An application to sales taxation with multiple federations," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 122-138.
    18. Juan Carlos Lopez, 2022. "Who will gain from the South Dakota vs. Wayfair Inc. ruling?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 42(1), pages 90-98.
    19. David R. Agrawal & Aline Bütikofer, 2022. "Public finance in the era of the COVID-19 crisis," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 29(6), pages 1349-1372, December.
    20. David R. Agrawal & Dirk Foremny & Clara Martínez-Toledano, 2020. ""Paraísos fiscales", wealth taxation, and mobility," Working Papers 2020/15, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    sales tax; e-commerce; online shopping; enforcement; compliance; South Dakota v. Wayfair; consumption tax; digital services; platforms;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General
    • H70 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - General
    • K30 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - General
    • L80 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - General
    • R50 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8708. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Klaus Wohlrabe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesifde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.