A framework for pricing government e-services

Governments are in the early stages of providing constituents with information and services online over the Internet. E-government service decisions should be rooted in solid finance principles, such as efficiency, equity and revenue adequacy. Pricing decisions should be tailored to meet the demands of particular constituent groups and the revenue needs of government. By so doing, governments can more quickly and broadly expand online service delivery and increase the net benefits to stakeholders. By segmenting e-services into government-to-citizen (G2C) and government-to-business (G2B) transactions and applying different pricing schedules for e-services with different demand elasticity’s, governments can increase overall consumer surplus, while generating additional revenue.