On 21 March 2018, the EU Commission presented two Proposals for
Council Directives specifically targeting the digital economy. One
was about taxing corporations' significant digital presences,
while the other introduced a new, common, interim system of tax on
revenues that arise from the provision of certain digital services
by tech companies of a certain size. This latter system is dubbed
the digital services tax, or DST.
The DST is the EU's response to public demand for a
harmonised approach to the long-standing matter of the taxation of
the digital economy, and it comes at a time when EU countries are
eager to take unilateral and uncoordinated measures.
It is supposed to be a temporary measure, lasting only until the
EU and/or the international community can provide a solution for
how to allocate profits in the digital economy. The original
proposal lacked a sunset clause, but the most recent compromise
text already provides for one: the Directive would expire
