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In a World Without Borders: The Impact of Taxes on Internet Commerce

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Author Info
Austan Goolsbee

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Abstract

The rapid rise in sales over the Internet has generated debate over the taxation of such transactions since the buyers usually pay no sales tax. This paper uses new data on the purchase decisions of approximately 25,000 online users to examine the effects that local sales taxes have on Internet commerce. The results show that, controlling for many observable characteristics, people who live in locations with high sales taxes are significantly more likely to buy things over the Internet. The estimated tax responsiveness of both participation and spending are large and resemble the tax effects found in previous research on retail sales in geographic border areas. The results are quite robust; the tax sensitivity is clear nationally, within regions, within states, and even within metropolitan areas. Further results suggest that the tax effect cannot be explained by unobserved heterogeneity across cities. The magnitudes in the paper suggest that to apply existing sales taxes to Internet commerce would reduce the number of online buyers by 25% and spending by more than 30% with some specifications suggesting even larger effects.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 6863.

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Date of creation: Dec 1998
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:6863

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  1. Timothy J. Besley & Harvey S. Rosen, 1998. "Sales Taxes and Prices: An Empirical Analysis," NBER Working Papers 6667, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Galbraith, John W. & Kaiserman, Murray, 1997. "Taxation, smuggling and demand for cigarettes in Canada: Evidence from time-series data," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 287-301, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Trandel, Gregory A., 1992. "Evading the use tax on cross-border sales : Pricing and welfare effects," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 313-331, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Thomas J. Holmes, 1998. "The Effect of State Policies on the Location of Manufacturing: Evidence from State Borders," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(4), pages 667-705, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Mintz, Jack & Tulkens, Henry, 1986. "Commodity tax competition between member states of a federation: equilibrium and efficiency," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 133-172, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Jeffrey K. MacKie-Mason & Hal R. Varian, 1994. "Pricing the Internet," Computational Economics 9401002, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
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  7. Shane Greenstein, 1998. "Universal Service in the Digital Age: The Commercialization and Geography of U.S. Internet Access," NBER Working Papers 6453, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Austan Goolsbee, 1998. "Investment Tax Incentives, Prices, And The Supply Of Capital Goods," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 113(1), pages 121-148, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Oecd, 1998. "Electronic Commerce: Prices and Consumer Issues for Three Products: Books, Compact Discs and Software," OECD Digital Economy Papers 32, OECD, Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry. [Downloadable!]
  10. Goolsbee, Austan & Klenow, Peter J, 2002. "Evidence on Learning and Network Externalities in the Diffusion of Home Computers," Journal of Law & Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 45(2), pages 317-43, October.
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  11. Tom Downes & Shane Greenstein, 2000. "Universal Access and Local Commercial Internet Markets," Discussion Papers Series, Department of Economics, Tufts University 0017, Department of Economics, Tufts University. [Downloadable!]
  12. Gordon, Roger H, 1983. "An Optimal Taxation Approach to Fiscal Federalism," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 98(4), pages 567-86, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. Kanbur, Ravi & Keen, Michael, 1993. "Jeux Sans Frontieres: Tax Competition and Tax Coordination When Countries Differ in Size," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(4), pages 877-92, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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