Online Event: Digital Services Taxes at a Crossroads, May 6
European perspectives on what comes next.
Last week, President Trump added fuel to the debate over digital services taxes (DST) by threatening significant new tariffs on British goods if their 2 percent digital tax remains in place. This comes on the heels of the UK reporting record DST revenue of £944 million, which is 0.1 percent of total revenue.
Next week, we will discuss these new developments and what they tell us about the uneasy future of taxing the digital economy.
Join me on Wednesday, May 6, at 10 a.m. ET for an online conversation: Digital Services Taxes at a Crossroads: European Perspectives on What Comes Next. I will be joined by Matthias Bauer (ECIPE), Cristina Enache (Tax Foundation Europe), and Andreas Hellmann (Tholos Foundation).
We’ll cover the political prominence of DSTs compared to their limited fiscal capacity, who really pays the tax, what the UK conflict tells us about Europe’s next moves, and what a better path forward might look like, including the possible role of value-added tax reform.
The conversation will draw on recent work by our panelists. Matthias Bauer and Dyuti Pandya recently argued that Europe’s existing VAT systems contain far more untapped fiscal capacity than digital services taxes could ever provide. Cristina Enache has advanced a similar view, and in testimony before the European Parliament last fall, made a compelling case that the revenue rationale for these taxes is far weaker than domestic politicians believe. The Tholos Foundation has also published a report framing DSTs as a fundamental violation of established tax principles. Finally, last year, I surveyed several problems with DSTs and warned that some proposed alternatives could be even worse. Since then, the DST landscape has only become more complicated.
If you work on tax policy, trade, or the digital economy—or you just want a clearer picture of where Europe goes from here—I hope you’ll tune in!
Register here: Digital Services Taxes at a Crossroads: European Perspectives on What Comes Next