Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have heard the principle floated in the UK and in other countries, but I would like to see the details of how it would actually work. Let me use Amazon as a good example. I know the Deputy is a big reader and maybe he might be a customer of Kenny's or so many wonderful independent bookshops at the moment. It is not clear to me how it would be possible to design a tax that would be fair and would apply only to a particular scale of an online retailer. Our taxes at the moment, particularly VAT, do not differentiate based on the scale of the retailer. Using the book example, I would like to see how anybody could come up with a tax that would apply to Amazon but would not apply to Kenny's, Tatalia Books or Books Upstairs. Irish companies, including Irish retailers, need to increase their online retailing as well as being able to reopen physical retail stores.

While I have heard many float the idea of being able to charge online retailers specifically, I have yet to see how that could be done without disadvantaging small and medium-sized retailers that are using an online presence to grow their business. I have questions on that approach, and I would not like to do anything that would damage the ability of small and medium-sized retailers to use an online presence to sell goods and services into Europe and throughout the world.