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Semis have become the foundation of a system that is striking at the very heart of all governments, TAXES. This is but one more example of perhaps one of the largest issues of our time. This is very serious, for Amazon, one of the world's largest companies, became a leader because of a tax free environment for many years. The tech world built on semiconductors has proven it can disrupt the foundation of all governments and trade, TAXES. How this debate is shaped will have large and critical impacts on who wins and losses and the damage could be severe for the losers. Imagine how much in taxes just Amazon avoided collecting for many years. Many bricks and mortar operations actually paid for their own destruction. Uber, Lyft, AirBNB, Netflix are just a few examples of tax system disruptors. The Net has changed all the rules, including the most fundamental one for government TAXES. Other disruptions are coming with dramatic speed and most have no concept of what the consequences will be. Comments, thoughts and possible solutions welcome and solicited.
Arguably, Uber and AirBNB are providing professional services (locating services). Like a lawyer or accountant or stock broker. It has always been hard to tax services because they are intangible and the value is tied to a professional status or affiliation. The income produced is still income though--and should be taxed. I don't see why it is so hard for Europeans to follow the money. The gig economy isn't so different from other forms of self-employment. It requires a different set of tax forms, quarterly estimated tax remittances, and as always, in the US system at least, you have to operate on the assumption that people will pay their taxes while policed by heavy jail sentences if you deliberately flout the law and the IRS catches you. I think the biggest thing that is different when you apply that model to Europe, is, they don't like sending people to jail. That is not the fault of tech companies though.
Uber will even set aside 10% of income for the quarterly tax remittance automatically, using technology to make taxation almost automatic. Come to think of it, that level of technology and automation could be the next evolution of government taxation; quick, efficient, automatic. Greece, and Europe generally, should be trying to imitate Uber and AirBNB, not sabotage them.
