From: Alexander 'Sasha' Chislenko (sasha1@netcom.com)
Date: Sun Sep 13 1998 - 12:55:20 MDT
I just read the following on Educom:
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WHITE HOUSE MULLS NEW INTERNET TAX PROPOSAL
Ira Magaziner, President Clinton's senior Internet advisor, has proposed a
new plan for tracking and taxing goods sold over the Internet that would use
electronic "resident cards" and private-sector escrow agents around the
world. Consumers would obtain digital cash at banks that would allow
merchants to identify which country the buyer is in, but would reveal no
other personal information. Consumption taxes would then be calculated,
collected, and placed with an escrow agent who would then funnel the money
to the appropriate government. "Governments would get their money more
quickly... they would get a higher compliance rate... and the system would
be easier to police," says Mr. Magaziner. (Wall Street Journal 11 Sep 98)
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I wonder how they would prevent Liberian residents from selling their
digital cash at a slight premium to the residents of higher-tax countries.
The whole scheme seems as likely to work as the infamous key-escrow
proposals. Also, it's interesting, that though it is currently assumed
that everybody should belong to one territorial taxing system, the
[improved/voluntary] scheme could work for a vector of non-territorial
collecting (or subsidizing) agencies, or perform other smart-money
functions.
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Alexander Chislenko <http://www.lucifer.com/~sasha/home.html>
<sasha1@netcom.com> <sasha@media.mit.edu>
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I'll be away from home at ISAS conference in D.C. from Sep. 13
to Sep. 22, and may take longer than usual responding to email.
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