WTO tries to bridge gap between tax and technology

NEWS Industry pressure is building ahead of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks in Seattle next week to restrict regulation on electronic commerce. Topping the list is concern over the taxation of Internet transactions. Industry heavyweights AOL, AT&T and Microsoft are amongst those lobbying the US government for a permanent ban on ecommerce taxation. But most industry analysts agree some form of taxation is inevitable, with governments reluctant to give up such a major source of income. According to David Clayton, partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, tax authorities across the world are facing new problems with the breakdown in national boundaries caused by the Internet. "There's a clash of two cultures between the taxman and technology companies." The WTO talks are due to begin on Tuesday, but have already been cast into uncertainty as member countries failed this week to agree on a full agenda. Major sticking points include agriculture, the lowering of tariffs on industrial goods and whether developing nations can have more time to implement agreements reached in the last round of talks.