[det dweller too]

Your tariff scheme would be an absolute nightmare, both for the companies trying to track the source of their services, and the auditors who were trying to enforce compliance.

First off, it is NOT a tariff scheme! Its a commodity tax that EVERYONE pays equally.

As far as tracking and auditing, well how do those companies get paid today? Billable hours, additional programming or consulting, whatever they invoice for services here will get a portion deducted for government overhead. Maybe we can call it an invoice tax? I'll have to think about that a little more. Either way there will be a lot of accountants who used to track income looking for work also.

[sinkspur]

Its a commodity tax that EVERYONE pays equally.

If you're talking about a national sales tax (a tax on goods and services at the point of delivery), I don't see how that would stop offshoring, unless you're saying that we tax offshoring MORE. If that's the case, then my "blended" argument holds even more.

Some of that stuff is simply not traceable, or a company can offset the additional tax by offshoring MORE.