By Yin Haodong, Research Department of Rural Economy, DRC, Xiao Rongmei, Zhang Jin & Huo Peng, China Academy of Information and Communication Technology (CAICT)

Research Report, No.250, 2020 (Total 5994) 2020-10-23

Abstract: Digital economy has brought new opportunities to the development of agriculture and rural areas, but also caused some problems. The mismatch of supply and demand in digital economy between urban and rural areas and between different regions has led to the imbalance of tax distribution. Digital economic transactions partly replace traditional economic activities, erode the original tax base of rural and underdeveloped areas, and generate a siphon effect on tax revenue, inducing damage to the tax benefits of rural and underdeveloped areas. The EU, U.S. and some other developed countries and regions are exploring tax mechanism adjustment to promote the coordinated development of digital economy among regions, and their experience makes good reference to China. It is necessary for us to build and perfect the tax system adaptable to digital economy, establish and flesh out the tax distribution mechanism based on the destination principle, enhance the digital collection and management capacity of tax authorities in rural and underdeveloped areas, ensure the implementation of the destination principle, give full play to the role of digital platforms in tax allocation, and promote more equitable and reasonable tax distribution in digital economy.

Keywords: digital economy, digital tax, destination principle, rural areas, underdeveloped areas