Abstract

This thesis will explore, first within a historical context, and second, in a contemporary model, the impact and effect of electronic commerce in both a general and Electronic magazines. The thesis will explore governmental and legal responses, from a taxation and tariff point of view to the challenges posed by commercial transactions initiated and completed via the Internet and the World Wide Web. The broad question is therefore presented: How should governments, primarily American state and local governments, but also governments worldwide, respond to changes in technology that have a direct effect on the way business is conducted within their states and with their citizens? From that penumbral question, an examination and exploration of the many options currently under discussion here and abroad will be conducted. Additionally, the thesis will explore a narrower question, one that applies almost exclusively to the state and local governments within the United States, at least as it pertains to the issue of taxation: What are the appropriate responses when technology virtually erases borders, rendering obsolete the need for physical presence within a taxing jurisdiction in order to conduct business within that jurisdiction? Because the vast majority of electronic commerce, electronic commercial transactions, and electronic commercial Web, Web sites, and Web servers are either within the United States or are generated by American concerns , much of this thesis will focus upon American law at the federal and state levels and on the problems encountered by state and local governments whose sales and use tax revenues are directly threatened by what are currently non-taxed transactions. The thesis, however, will not confine itself completely to American law, as the European Union, Australia, and Asia, among others, grapple with the myriad issues presented by this interconnection of technologies that carries with it the promise of huge increases in efficiency and prosperity, but that is extremely difficult to define and control, as well as to tax. By the time this thesis reaches final form, the Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce ("ACEC), created as part of Congress' passage of the Internet Tax Freedom Act ("JTFA") that became law on October 21, 1998, has invited, received, and reviewed various taxing and tax system reform plans from politicians, academics, economists, governmental officials, and other interested parties. In addition, The ACEC has, according to its mandate, reported to Congress on those plans.

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