Taxing Direct Sales of Digital Services: A Plea for Regulated and Internationally Coordinated Profit Splitting

The employment of capital is rival in nature. Small countries do not benefit from taxing its employment. By contrast, the use of digital services is non-rival and small countries do benefit from taxing expenditures on such services. In fact, some countries have already decided to tax digital activities. If such practice spreads, the development of digital services is negatively affected. It is argued that countries exporting digital services have reason to respond by promoting an international tax regime in which the right of taxing the profit earned on the direct sales of digital services is split between the countries involved.