<b>Opinion:</b> Ebay and the taxation of e-commerce. By Simon Sweetman

Thanks to the rise of eBay, the UK - and, slowly, the rest of Europe - is becoming a nation of virtual shopkeepers. Simon Sweetman wonders whether online trading will increase the demand for common tax rates.

EBay, in the process of taking over the world, has paused to tell us amount that is traded over its site and the difficulties of trading in a European context.

According to EBay there are now 68,000 'cottage industries' in the UK which do at least 25% of their income through sales on eBay.

Continued...