Social Protection, Basic Income and Taxation in the Digital Economy

This chapter deals with one of the most controversial and complex issues in the context of platform capitalism: the issue of taxation. The peculiar features of the platform system are well recognized, in terms of legislation, management, production, labour, and the overall organisation of processes. Those elements represent a challenge as well as a problem for traditional tax systems. In particular, there are two aspects that should be emphasized: supranational activity and the intangible nature of production and services provided. Those two aspects are synergistic with each other. The production activity's immaterial nature (considered at a general level) allows transnational economic operations. This results in a double problem: the measurement of the value created and the difficulty of delimiting the geographical area of action, and therefore the place of taxation, within national borders.
The problem of taxation is strictly linked with the issue of welfare in platform economies The purpose of this essay is to contribute to the ongoing debates and policy responses that are emerging at the European, national and local levels.
At the European level, efforts to address labour rights and social protection have so far been limited and based on an approach that has prioritized policies at the national level. This approach has become increasingly unsustainable and several initiatives have been taken by the EU institutions. The most relevant is the current deliberation process on the protection of labour and social rights of platform workers. One of the main difficulties policymakers will face in this context is the blurring of boundaries between consumption and production and users as consumers and as producers in the platform economy.
Although there are many conflicts among stakeholders on this issue, all agree that the social protection of platform workers needs to be strengthened, even if they strongly disagree on the ways to do so. The diversity of social protection needs of different platform workers has brought to the forefront of the European debate three alternative welfare models that are increasingly discussed in relation to platform work: the universal basic income, digital welfare platforms and platform cooperatives.