Monday, February 05, 2018

Asian countries want to tax online transactions

A few Asian countries are studying how to tax the online transactions. Singapore is one of them.

The online transactions are eroding the tax that is being collected by these countries through GST and sales tax. As e-commerce grows the tax earned from this source is being eroded.

The online transactions are also threatening the retail stores in these countries. Many retail stores cannot continue in business and have to close down. It has already happened in a large scale. Many malls are empty. It will get worse.

Can these governments and their bureaucrats find a solution to introduce a tax on online transactions? It will be very difficult. it will be challenging.

I am not aware of any country that has introduced this tax successfully. Can you name them?

Even if the governments can introduce a tax on online transactions, there are so many ways that it can be avoided. Furthermore, some of the governments will be lax in implemented the tax to encourage the e-commerce platforms to operate in their country.

I know of a solution to this challenge problem. It requires an out-of-the box approach. In the old days, the civil servants and Dr. Goh Keng Swee would have found a solution. The leaders together, probably cannot see this soution.

Guess what is my solution? It comes from common sense and observation.












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