Information Circulation Tax — A Fiscal Design to Visualize Invisible Transactions in the Data Economy —

Abstract This paper identifies a structural imbalance in the global data resale model—centered on advertising platforms—which depends on national infrastructure such as electricity and telecommunications while shifting profits to headquarters or tax havens. As a corrective mechanism, it proposes the Information Circulation Tax (ICT). The taxable scope is limited to external monetization (data resale to third parties), with the formula: Tax = External Information Revenue × Resale Dependency Ratio × Progressive Rate (5 8%). The aim is not to raise new revenue, but to visualize the invisible transactions behind “free” services and align them with the social costs they generate: energy and bandwidth consumption, healthcare costs from digital addiction, law enforcement and judicial costs related to fraudulent advertising, and political polarization risks. Operationally, behavioral and contextual advertising are apportioned through technical audits, and double taxation is avoided through consistency with OECD Pillar 1 profit allocation and foreign tax credits.