G20 finance chiefs agree on urgent need for online sales tax system

Ministers are weighing the possibility of a new tax policy based on the amount of business a company does in a country, not where it is headquartered.

exactly forcing these big companies to pay the taxes that they continually avoid makes it easier for smally players to succeed, as these smaller players dont have the money or resorces for creative accounting of the big players.

now making everyone share where all the money is will prove to be difficult.

watch them all shift to bitcoin.

Governments are always light years behind in terms of reacting to new business models like the internet in terms of legislation and taxation. By the time they come up with a scheme, these companies would probably have morphed their model again and moved on. About the only time I see governments “act” is when they see new revenue sources to squander.

Governments are just pissed off their aren't getting their piece of the pie. But when one stops and considers that even though they may not be getting a "cut" from let's say Google, they are making money off the taxes that are paid to produce and ship the items being purchased.

They just want a piece of Google that's all!

Maybe time to ditch Sales tax altogether, and simply Tax Companies based upon Profit.

And likewise, to drop the tax dodge of Tax write-offs against losses.

If I recall, don't most countries have corporate income tax? If it were bracketed like personal income tax, it would be fairer and allow smaller businesses a way to compete. 

I've been more of a fan of replacing the corporate income tax with a ratio-pay tax so that the smaller businesses pay less as they can hardly afford to pay their CEO more than 10x that of the lowest paid worker. Also, profit based, not total revenue.

Rates (total, not bracketed)

1:1 - 1:5..........0%

1:6 - 1:10.......5%

1:11 - 1:15......10%

1:16 - 1:20....15%

1:21 - 1:25....20%

Etc

So a CEO making 20x that of the lowest paid worker causes company to pay 15% of profit, so board would have balancing act between paing ceos "what they're worth" and keeping their tax rate down.

This is the most important thing to discuss?

Governments are always light years behind in terms of reacting to new business models like the internet in terms of legislation and taxation. By the time they come up with a scheme, these companies would probably have morphed their model again and moved on. 

Yep. And while the giants will find a way around the new tax laws, those same laws will drive family run home-based web businesses into bankruptcy.

For highly educated thieves, one would think these bankers could do better.

I totally agree with Yubaru. Governments are only pissed they do not get a piece of the pie, while actually a whole lot of money goes to them thanks to the e-commerce and the extra taxes paid on every service applied within the framework of platforms like Google, Facebook, etc. And they do not like to deal with giants more powerful than governments in terms of money and influence, when it come to force people to do what they want or when they can't control them. European countries are still intellectually third world on this issue, since the only thing they can see is imposing taxes on everything, like in the Middle Ages to finance politicians greed. US, I dunnow: it may have some more positive idea about. Governments have to blame themselves: they allowed companies like Amazon, Ikea and these net giants to prosper on their territories allowing them a lower taxation than other companies (go checking that... it was a true scandal in Europe, when it came out...).

Hey heres an idea, how about create more search engines, like back in the 90s, remember Altavista, Lycos, Excite etc.. variety remember that? not stalking ones personal data for profits, rather than thinking of many tax ways.. how about investing in more new companies.. theres a thought!

Just follow Japan's way - tax the people to death and don't worry about the corporations.

Within the US I'm more concerned with Google and Facebook sticking to the US Constitution, that means as Social Media Platforms they need to accept that there is Free Speech. Since Google and FaceBook are American Corporations, they should also be made to stick to the Constitution wherever they go. As for tax, that's just some State sticking their hands in your pocket, and if you don't like it, they stick a gun in your face until you comply. It's all about State control one way or the other, and freedom is an illusion, don't believe it, then stop paying your taxes and see what happens to your freedom.