IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/itaxpf/v10y2003i1p79-97.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Network Externalities and Indirect Tax Preferences for Electronic Commerce

Author

Listed:
  • Zodrow, George R

Abstract

Although most arguments supporting preferential tax treatment of electronic commerce are suspect, the existence of network externalities provides one potentially defensible rationale. This paper considers (1) direct network externalities, which arise in communications networks like the Internet, (2) indirect network externalities, which arise in computer hardware/software systems in imperfectly competitive markets, and (3) learning network externalities, which arise when existing network participants assist new users. It concludes the case for preferential treatment is weak, and that proposed blanket sales tax exemptions of remote (or all) e-commerce are especially inappropriate. Finally, the paper comments briefly on US sales tax reform efforts. Copyright 2003 by Kluwer Academic Publishers

Suggested Citation

  • Zodrow, George R, 2003. "Network Externalities and Indirect Tax Preferences for Electronic Commerce," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 10(1), pages 79-97, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:itaxpf:v:10:y:2003:i:1:p:79-97
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://journals.kluweronline.com/issn/0927-5940/contents
    File Function: link to full text
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ligthart, J.E., 2004. "Consumption Taxation in a Digital World : A Primer," Discussion Paper 2004-102, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    2. Tiantian Dai & Shenyi Jiang & Xiangbo Liu & Wen Wang, 2016. "The Impact of Internet Sales Tax in a Search Model of Money: Some Analytical Results," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 17(1), pages 133-144, May.
    3. Bo Sandemann Rasmussen, 2004. "On the Possibility and Desirability of Taxing E-Commerce," Economics Working Papers 2004-8, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    4. Tsaur-Chin Wu & Chih-Ta Yen & Hsiu-Wei Chang, 2023. "Network externalities, trade costs, and the choice of commodity taxation principle," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 30(5), pages 1203-1224, October.
    5. Joan Torrent-Sellens, 2015. "Knowledge Products and Network Externalities: Implications for the Business Strategy," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 6(1), pages 138-156, March.
    6. Bo Sandemann Rasmussen, 2004. "Preferential Taxation of E-Commerce: Imperfectly Competitive Retail Markets and Trade Costs," Economics Working Papers 2004-9, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    7. Tehmina S. Khan & Mr. John Norregaard, 2007. "Tax Policy: Recent Trends and Coming Challenges," IMF Working Papers 2007/274, International Monetary Fund.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:itaxpf:v:10:y:2003:i:1:p:79-97. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.