Digital Services Taxes This Time Around

Abstract

The United States currently has an effectively exclusive taxing right on the high-tech foreign profits of its multinationals — a right it leaves largely unexercised. This has been unacceptable to US trading partners for some time. On the other hand, recent reform proposals from the OECD are unacceptable to a decisive faction of US legislators. This article proposes a more modest resolution to the conflict that, although far from ideal, might actually have a chance of meeting the main concerns of both skeptical U.S. lawmakers and exasperated U.S. allies.

Keywords: International Taxation, Digital Services Taxes, Pillar 1, Permanent Establishment, BEPS

JEL Classification: H2, H25