[FollowSteph3]

Also just to add to the complexity what happens for online websites. If you're from Australia and visit Google and the server is in the US and you click on an ad, the a houldnt the revenue, and hence taxes, be paid in the US because the server is located in the US. That's were the revenue was made. Assuming that's true then wherever you host the server is where you should be taxed. And in that case certain countries would be more beneficial to put your hosting servers in.

Basically all I'm saying is that it's not an easy problem and there are no easy and obvious answers :(

[MR4D]

I up-voted this because it highlights the legal issue so clearly to any of us techies.

Clearly the tax has to be paid somewhere, and I'll bet every jurisdiction has an argument why theirs is the right place to collect it. No wonder tax or trade treaties take so long to negotiate.