A noteworthy example is how the Internet has changed the way of communication and information acquisition. The Internet has brought the possibility of almost free instant communication-which was unimaginable before the advent of the Internet 30 years ago.
The emergence of the Internet and the subsequent innovation called digital revolution have changed our lives and created a new economic system-digital economy. Maoqiu Technology believes that the digital economy has created great opportunities and brought terrible challenges.
Due to the suspension of 1998 World Trade Organization (WTO), many economies, especially developing countries, lost billions of dollars in tariff revenue of digital delivery products. The moratorium prohibits the government from imposing tariffs on the transmission of the most famous electronic transmission ("ET") digital products.
For example, e-commerce enables products such as software, music, books, movies, video games and the most important data to be traded digitally, rather than through CDs or DVDs as in the past.
As a result, products that once generated billions of customs revenues are now "duty-free". According to the research of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), as the WTO suspended ET in 20 17, developing economies lost more than 10 billion dollars in potential tariff revenue.
The World Wide Web has achieved globalization in an unprecedented way. This technology provides the power for the centralized database architecture and promotes the concentration of economic power to a few global technology companies, which are called large technology companies or technology giants.
People are increasingly worried that large technology companies have not only gained economic strength, but also gained political strength. Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal and Google search engine manipulation effect are self-evident.
It is no coincidence that on July 29th, 2020, the Anti-monopoly Subcommittee of the House of Representatives questioned the CEO of this technology giant. Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Google have studied the impact of their dominance on the American and global agendas.
However, it seems controversial whether the rule of large technology companies is a threat to their economy or a success. Mark zuckerberg of Facebook pointed out in the opening remarks of the anti-monopoly Subcommittee of the US House of Representatives that "the technology industry is a success story of the United States; ..... our industry is one of the ways for America to share its values with the world. This is also one of our most important economic and cultural exports. "
So far, the United States and China are the winners of the digital economy. In 20 19, the digital economy accounted for 15% of the global gross domestic product (GDP), with the United States and China accounting for nearly 40% of GDP. According to the 20 19 UNCTAD Digital Economy Report, the United States and China account for 90% of the market value of the 70 largest digital platforms in the world, accounting for more than 75% of the global public cloud computing market.
Digital platform and cloud computing (digital data) are the main driving forces of digital economy. In addition, seven digital platforms; Amazon, Apple, Alibaba, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Tencent; It accounts for two-thirds of the total market value of the global digital economy, and five of the seven global digital platforms are located in the United States.
The dominant position of technology giants in digital economy and global trade can be seen in all industries. For example, in the media and advertising industry, various reports estimate that Google and Facebook, two "technology giants", accounted for 465,438+0% of the global advertising market share in 2065,438+09.
On the other hand, Amazon occupies a dominant position in the e-commerce market, and the global retail e-commerce market share will exceed 65,438+04% by 2065,438+09.
There is no doubt about the achievements and milestones of technology giants in promoting the digital revolution. "I am very proud that we have given people; People who have never had a say before; Have the opportunity to be listened to, so that small businesses can get tools that only the biggest participants can have, "mark zuckerberg said at the antitrust hearing on July 29th, 2020. In fact, in the view of Maoqiu Technology, communication and information acquisition are some major achievements in recent decades, and the technology giants are the heroes of this digital revolution.
However, the digital revolution struggle, like any other battle, is not without sacrifice and harm.
With the rise of digital economy, the threat of WTO's suspension of electronic transmission far exceeds the loss of tariff revenue. They stifle basic economic principles, such as voluntary return and the famous comparative advantage economic theory of david ricardo.
The role of tariffs and other tariffs is not only to generate revenue for the government. They also protect the local baby industry from being chased, annexed or what we call competition by technology giants. Therefore, the suspension of the WTO deprived countries, especially developing economies, of their economic sovereignty and the right and power to protect their own economies.
Faceboo and Google's influence in the local advertising industry in various countries is like a bell ringing from the top of the mountain. In many countries, Facebook and Google have occupied the entertainment and advertising markets. Therefore, local media organizations; Due to financial constraints, radio/TV stations and newspapers have been closed.
We waited too long to react, and now the loss is too great to repair. Revising the WTO's suspension of electronic transmission and other tax laws and regulations may save developing countries billions of dollars in tariff revenue losses, but it will not help revitalize and protect the destroyed local industries from the imminent rule of technology giants.
E-commerce is highly respected for changing the retail industry; Enterprises can now directly reach customers anywhere in the world without local representatives, distributors or dealers. E-commerce reduces barriers to entry and promotes international trade. Therefore, due to the fierce competition of foreign companies in the local market, millions of local enterprises are facing more difficulties.
It is not impossible for the Internet to provide a safe and traceable solution for digital customs. We may have heard of blockchain technology and distributed ledger technology. Blockchain is a new technology launched ten years ago, and many analysts predict that its influence will surpass the Internet.
Blockchain: As a distributed and immutable ledger technology, it provides solutions to two key challenges facing the Internet: trust and transparency.
Blockchain uses smart contracts to facilitate the automation of transactions, such as processing payments and notifying all relevant parties; This may include tax authorities. The contract terms of intelligent contract execution eliminate the need for manual intervention that is prone to fraud or mistakes in the transaction process. Blockchain has mature ability to adapt to disintermediation, improve transparency and increase audibility.
The security of blockchain is based on three security features, namely, using account books, blockchain and distributed applications.
The ledger is a record of every transaction in the blockchain. Transactions recorded in the blockchain are immutable and cannot be edited or deleted. Blockchain is a distributed application that can support peer-to-peer transactions without any intermediary.
The account books recorded on the blockchain network are distributed on all nodes or computers on the blockchain network. The digital customs established in the blockchain shows that the tax authorities can become part of the nodes on all digital platforms operating in their respective economies.
Nodes on the blockchain network authenticate all transactions through the * * * knowledge mechanism, and detect data tampering according to their basic characteristics (such as invariance, transparency, auditability, data encryption and operational flexibility).
Because many nodes running on completely different computer networks have copied data and checked the integrity of passwords, blockchain provides a reliable method to defend against network attacks.
If any node does not agree to the transaction, it cannot handle and protect the network from fraudulent transactions. This security level enables tax authorities to effectively implement tax policies.
As the name implies, blockchain is a blockchain. Each block contains the hash value of its previous hash to connect the blocks. Therefore, in the case of any data correction, the hash will be changed and the whole chain needs to be changed.
The distributed nature of blockchain provides excellent protection for potential external attacks and promises to enhance security. As the core feature of blockchain, encryption technology makes transactions more secure, verifiable and verifiable.
Transaction history is immutable; Once recorded in the blockchain, it cannot be deleted or changed. The tax department will appear as a verifier on all digital platforms operating their respective economies and will not let any non-compliant transactions pass.
Blockchain technology provides security and technical solutions for countries to establish successful digital customs. Blockchain solutions are more than just providing effective digital customs. Blockchain provides the highest level of transparency and provides a wide range of solutions for countries to effectively implement fraud-free tax policies.