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Specifically, the representatives ask for greater taxation of online companies such as Amazon, which do not have commercial premises in Austria. Since, due to the lack of a company headquarters in Austria, it is currently not possible to apply income tax, it could, however, be changed to a fictitious income tax based on sales. Teiber suggests five percent of sales.
However, in the medium term it would be important to introduce permanent digital stores, which would also allow companies that are only present online in Austria to be taxed, says Will. However, it will take some time to shape it. According to calculations by the University of Vienna, the introduction of a permanent digital establishment would generate around 300 million euros in tax revenue for Austria.
The managing director of the trade association also criticized the high volume of counterfeit products or incorrectly declared products that are shipped through online commerce. The amount of damages for Austria amounts to around 5 billion euros. These packages often come from Asia. This problem can only be solved with stricter customs controls and the removal (across the EU) of the VAT exemption limit of 22 euros. Also, there must be some kind of liability from the platform in the case of fake products, Will said.
Packaging waste
There should also be platform responsibility for retailers to comply with the Packaging Ordinance so that Amazon is more responsible for the packaging waste produced by the group. “We demand that disposal costs at Amazon be paid through the responsibility of the platform,” said the managing director of Greenpeace.
