Winter 2000/2001 - Number 25
Complete issue 

Feature Article

Should Internet Sales Transactions Be Taxed?

Over the past three years, electronic commerce has grown explosively at rates of 200 to 300 percent per year. After spending just $2.4 billion over the Internet in 1997, consumers transacted about $25 billion in Internet sales in 1999, according to an estimate by Ernst & Young. The firm predicts that the value of on-line transactions will double to $50 billion in the current year. By 2004, says Forrester Research, Internet sales to consumers will reach $184 billion, an annualized growth rate of 49 percent over the five-year period from 2000 to 2004.