Internet tax morotorium is about to end

CB Droege 28 Sep, 2007 at 10:10am ET Article published in Tech

As anyone who follows internet rights discussions knows, the federally mandated restriction on the taxation of internet use by local governments expires in November if nothing is done to extend it.

Thursday, The Senate Commerce Committee canceled the vote without explanation. When asked why the vote was canceled, the committee chairman, Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), laughed at the situation.

The proposed bill, which was originally scheduled to be voted on at 2:30pm on Thursday September 27th, would have extended the moratorium by four years, giving the legislators more time to determine a permanent solution.

The temporary moratorium was put into place years ago to stop local governments from taxing internet users. The fear was that it would stifle the growth of an emerging technology. Now, of course, there is no fear of stifling the internet, but some legislators still fear that local governments would take advantage of internet consumers if given free rein to tax it’s use.

Comments

28 Sep 2007 ~ 1:13pm GHoosdum They will.
28 Sep 2007 ~ 7:15pm Qeldroma Taxation of internet purchases will all but finish a lot of on-line buying for me.

Ex. Newegg has good prices, but if taxed, I can go down and get it at Fry's Electronics today without paying for shipping. There's also the additional bene of being able to put my hands on the product and possibly try it out at Fry's.

My gut is- except for things like E-bay, on-line shopping could go the way of the mail-order catalog- thanks to your local congressman.
28 Sep 2007 ~ 7:54pm CB Well, this moratorium has nothing to do with taxing purchases. That's a separate issue.

This is a restriction on the taxation of the use of the internet in general.

You know how your land-line telephone bill has about $8 in taxes on it (depending on where you live)? Right now, they're not allowed to do that to your internet bill. In November, if nothing is done, they will be able to.
28 Sep 2007 ~ 8:09pm Qeldroma

CB Droege wrote:

Well, this moratorium has nothing to do with taxing purchases. That's a separate issue.

...

Ah, thanks for clearing that up- I thought it was related. Oops.

Yeah. I don't know how we're going to stop this one.

Still- rest assured that your elected government is working hard to find more innovative ways to part you from some $.
29 Sep 2007 ~ 1:52am Leonardo

You know how your land-line telephone bill has about $8 in taxes on it (depending on where you live)? Right now, they're not allowed to do that to your internet bill. In November, if nothing is done, they will be able to.

Oh boy. I have very little faith in Congress, any party, to do the right thing. I consider most of them morons, with a greed for money (government greed, the strongest kind) that is insatiable.
29 Sep 2007 ~ 3:17pm shwaip I forsee a "bittorrent tax" in the near future...
29 Sep 2007 ~ 3:41pm muddocktor

Leonardo wrote:

Oh boy. I have very little faith in Congress, any party, to do the right thing. I consider most of them morons, with a greed for money (government greed, the strongest kind) that is insatiable.

Quoted for truth, Leo. That whole nest of vipers in Washington DC needs to be cleaned out because they are all part of the problem. And our state governments are just as bad.
29 Sep 2007 ~ 5:55pm Your-Amish-Daddy I think it's the united states shooting itself in the foot again. FCC levies tax increases on internet radio, and now this. I really don't have to worry about it being taxed in texas, since I'm already paying tax on just about everything else. Why not this?
2 Oct 2007 ~ 7:02am MiracleManS The real issue here is, by what right does the government tax the use of something that is totally beyond their control? There is little to no ACTUAL regulation on internet usage per say. We're so far behind in the push to high speed internet it's a joke.

Look at the things they do tax:

Telephone (they control the FCC)
Electricity (Government sponsored monopoly)
Oil (YAY! They control the supply to a great extent)
Internet... I mean, what do they do besides control the telecoms already? Isn't this double dipping?