This was the main message of the European economic and social committee (EESC) debate on Taxation of the digital economy, held on 5 May.
Opening the debate, the president of the EESC’s ECO section Joost van Iersel invited the experts participating to explore how the new models of business, work and consumption in the sharing economy can be taxed appropriately.
Rita de la Feria, professor of tax law at the University of Leeds, told the conference: ‘The digital economy is no longer just a part of the economy, but is becoming the actual economy itself.’ With consumption taking place increasingly online and on mobile phones, the rules need to be adapted to this reality.
‘Digitalisation of the economy is not reversible; neither is globalisation,’ said de la Feria. ‘Either we continue to fit reality in our law and patch measures, or we try to adapt our rules and laws, especially in areas of fraud, and offer prosperity to our people.’ She added that fraud has costs beyond revenue loss, and is about much more than revenue. When only focusing on revenue maximisation, the applied measures that increase it do nothing to address other causes, such as distortions to competition.
Within its wider work on fair taxation, the EESC is preparing an opinion on the taxation of the sharing economy. ‘Current taxation rules risk killing the sharing economy, which is actually good for increased productivity’, said EESC member Krister Andersson. These rules are also especially tough on small companies.
Giuseppe Guerini, EESC rapporteur of taxation of sharing economy, said: ‘We need a more united taxation system in Europe. Our economy is not united to our territory, so we should treat it with one united European approach.’
This was the main message of the European economic and social committee (EESC) debate on Taxation of the digital economy, held on 5 May.
Opening the debate, the president of the EESC’s ECO section Joost van Iersel invited the experts participating to explore how the new models of business, work and consumption in the sharing economy can be taxed appropriately.
Rita de la Feria, professor of tax law at the University of Leeds, told the conference: ‘The digital economy is no longer just a part of the economy, but is becoming the actual economy itself.’ With consumption taking place increasingly online and on mobile phones, the rules need to be adapted to this reality.
‘Digitalisation of the economy is not reversible; neither is globalisation,’ said de la Feria. ‘Either we continue to fit reality in our law and patch measures, or we try to adapt our rules and laws, especially in areas of fraud, and offer prosperity to our people.’ She added that fraud has costs beyond revenue loss, and is about much more than revenue. When only focusing on revenue maximisation, the applied measures that increase it do nothing to address other causes, such as distortions to competition.
Within its wider work on fair taxation, the EESC is preparing an opinion on the taxation of the sharing economy. ‘Current taxation rules risk killing the sharing economy, which is actually good for increased productivity’, said EESC member Krister Andersson. These rules are also especially tough on small companies.
Giuseppe Guerini, EESC rapporteur of taxation of sharing economy, said: ‘We need a more united taxation system in Europe. Our economy is not united to our territory, so we should treat it with one united European approach.’
