Indonesia Proposes Law To Review & Tax Every Internet Application
21st October 2010
As has been discussed multiple times, one of the reasons why the internet has thrived (or even why the software industry has thrived) is that the barriers to entry are low. You don’t need to build a factory or get all kinds of approvals. You can just create something and go. But, perhaps not in Indonesia any more. Glyn Moody points us to a report on a proposed law in Indonesia that would first seek to tax all technology/software firms above and beyond existing taxes and (even more worrying) require anyone creating an application to get permission from the government before any application can be released. Apparently, this will apply to any application “which uses the internet to transmit voice, images, data, content based services, e-commerce, as well as other services provided through applications.”
Funny thing how there are no democratic Islamic countries. Not one. (Not even Turkey any more.)