Amazon Disconnects From Australia After Government Hits It With 10% Tax On All Imported Items
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180604/12161739963/amazon-disconnects-australia-after-government-hits-it-with-10-tax-all-imported-items.shtml
Having tried and mostly failed to regulate Wild West internet commerce, legislators have now decided to take a more "hands off" approach to the intersection of communications and commerce. That's what I would be writing if we lived in a world where people learned from their mistakes. But they don't. Whatever has failed a half-dozen times in previous iterations can be rebooted, doubled-down on, and otherwise presented as a legislative solution for a "problem." And this "problem" is always the same. Incumbents who have somehow managed to parlay their fortunes into a "disadvantaged" position want tech companies to give them (or their government) money.
Link taxes -- otherwise known as "Google taxes" -- supposedly would allow publishers to recoup their "losses" from having Google send traffic their way. These haven't worked, and in the worst case scenario, Google has simply shut down its Google News service rather than pay for the privilege of referring traffic. Other attempts to make things "fair" for brick-and-mortar businesses competing with Amazon have led to similar outcomes. In one case, the French government decided Amazon could no longer offer free shipping on books to France. Amazon obliged, raising shipping to $0.01 Euros.