How should we tax internet countries?
Here's what we can learn from Japan, Germany, and DAOs.
ake any online community you are part of and imagine it growing into a nation. Your Facebook group, your Discord channel, or a Substack community you’re a part of.
Imagine it built a government and economy and defined its own citizenship criteria. Your existing population could have default citizenship, dual citizenship with nations that they are already a part of, or immigrate to your nation from the existing one they are from. You all share a citizen identity that you chose and define together, and as you determine how the nation should operate and what you can offer citizens through your government services, you eventually reach the question: What do citizens offer the nation in return?
The short answer, for many territorial nations, is quite literal: taxes.
Comparatively, then, for a digital nation, the question becomes a practical one: How do you design a contribution model that sustains mutually shared digital public goods, offers legitimate incentives for participation, and keeps people genuinely engaged rather than just compliant?
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