在國(guó)家誕生以前，憑借公路上的收費(fèi)站和環(huán)繞城市的圍墻，稅務(wù)部門可以從商家的利潤(rùn)中分得一杯羹。問(wèn)題是，在全新數(shù)字時(shí)代收費(fèi)加圍城的組合拳并不太管用，科技巨頭和跨國(guó)企業(yè)在實(shí)質(zhì)上繞過(guò)了有形的屏障，把本該繳納的稅款留在了自己的口袋里。

不過(guò)，形勢(shì)可能要變了。經(jīng)濟(jì)合作與發(fā)展組織（OECD，簡(jiǎn)稱“經(jīng)合組織”）最近表示，95個(gè)司法轄區(qū)的代表一致同意，“應(yīng)對(duì)經(jīng)濟(jì)數(shù)字化帶來(lái)的稅收挑戰(zhàn)。”換言之，全球一些最富有的國(guó)家希望過(guò)時(shí)的組合拳更新?lián)Q代，趕上21世紀(jì)的步伐，終結(jié)持續(xù)多年的逃稅現(xiàn)象。

今年1月在瑞士達(dá)沃斯舉辦的世界經(jīng)濟(jì)論壇期間，經(jīng)合組織的秘書長(zhǎng)安赫爾·古里亞向法新社表示，盡管去年美國(guó)政府和歐盟出現(xiàn)了分歧，“相信仍然存在一些條件，可以為今年達(dá)成協(xié)議奠定基礎(chǔ)，可能2020年就會(huì)批準(zhǔn)并生效。”

經(jīng)合組織領(lǐng)銜的政策改革主要是數(shù)字稅相關(guān)的倡議，早在2015年就已經(jīng)啟動(dòng)，目標(biāo)是2020年正式執(zhí)行。經(jīng)合組織總部位于巴黎，之所以采取行動(dòng)主要是希望將數(shù)字稅問(wèn)題提上日程的英國(guó)和法國(guó)等國(guó)家大力推動(dòng)，相關(guān)國(guó)家均已經(jīng)制定法律并執(zhí)行，通過(guò)不同的方式向全球數(shù)字服務(wù)收入征稅。

問(wèn)題在于，如果各國(guó)都有自己的法律，有的企業(yè)可能面臨雙重征稅，有的則能巧妙逃稅。因此，經(jīng)合組織希望近期公布的政策“基礎(chǔ)”可以避免相關(guān)問(wèn)題。

各種問(wèn)題絕非孤立存在。美國(guó)官員的目標(biāo)是，對(duì)包括數(shù)字服務(wù)商在內(nèi)的跨國(guó)企業(yè)制定全球最低稅率，企業(yè)的投資地?fù)碛袃?yōu)先征稅權(quán)。

歐盟也在考慮更側(cè)重?cái)?shù)字服務(wù)的用戶所在地，但由于歐盟成員情況差別很大，實(shí)施起來(lái)存在困難。歐盟成員國(guó)里盧森堡和愛(ài)爾蘭之類是避稅天堂。在另一些成員國(guó)很少設(shè)有企業(yè)總部，卻有很多數(shù)字服務(wù)的用戶。

總體而言，盡管爭(zhēng)論看來(lái)永無(wú)休止，終有一天全球數(shù)字稅框架會(huì)問(wèn)世。一些跨國(guó)企業(yè)會(huì)表示反對(duì)，谷歌之類已經(jīng)表示有興趣達(dá)成全球協(xié)作，如此以來(lái)稅務(wù)規(guī)劃將更有預(yù)見(jiàn)性，也更加類似。

譯者：Pessy

審校：夏林

Pikes across roads and walls around cities have enabled tax authorities to take a slice of business profits since before the dawn of the nation-state. Trouble is this pike-and-wall approach hasn’t served too well in the new, digital age as tech giants and global multinationals have essentially walked around the barriers and taken their money home.

This, however, may be about to change. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said recently that representatives from 95 jurisdictions had agreed to “address the tax challenges of the digitalization of the economy.” In other words: the richest countries in the world want to drag the pike-and-wall approach into the 21st century and end years of avoidance.

OECD head ángel Gurria told AFP at the World Economic Forum in Davos on January that despite differences between the U.S. and EU last year, “I believe that the conditions exist to lay the foundations for an agreement this year that could be approved and enter into force in 2020.”

The OECD-led policy reforms are part of an initiative dating to 2015 and are targeted to go into action in 2020. The Paris-based institute has been forced into action by individual countries such as the U.K., France, who have brought the issue to a head by writing and implementing their own laws that tax global digital service revenues in different ways.

The problem is that if each country implements different laws, companies may be subject to double-taxation in some cases and no taxation in others. That’s what the OECD seeks to prevent in one of the policy “pillars” announced recently.

But they are no means alone: U.S. officials are aiming to set a minimum global tax rate on multinationals, including digital service providers, that would give taxing priority to places where companies invest.

The EU is also ruminating over proposals that focus more on the location of the users of the services — although this has been hindered by the fact that the EU itself is divided between tax havens such as Luxembourg and Ireland, and countries with few company headquarters but lots of service users.

The overall upshot, however, is that despite the seemingly endless debates a framework for a global digital tax will, one day, exist. While some multinationals will rail against the changes, others such as Google, have already expressed an interest in a coordinated global approach that would make their tax planning more predictable and homogenous.