Digital Tax Tensions Play Out as UN Tackles Country Divides

Developed countries in United Nations tax-treaty negotiations have shown an appetite for new approaches to taxing the digital economy, opening some potential for agreement with developing nations that are spearheading the UN talks.

But the work is far from coalescing around an approach — a decision that, once taken, could put the UN on a collision course with any future deal at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, where US opposition to a long-stalled agreement on digital economy taxation keeps the matter in limbo.

At the UN, “Everything’s on the table for discussion, because we’re building a new tax ...