Time to contact your Senator and demand to make the tax ban permanent. Let’s stop the tax and spend politicians in their tracks. All together now: “Free our Interwebitubes! No more taxes! Free our Interwebitubes! No more taxes!”
As deadline looms, Senate still debating fate of Internet tax moratorium
As the expiration date on the 1998 Internet tax ban draws near, pressure is on the Senate to compromise over just how long it will be extended. If the moratorium is not extended, prices for Internet service nationwide could jump—as high as 17 percent, some ISPs claim—once November 1 rolls around.
“In a little over a month, Americans will be forced to pay more to access the Internet, receive e-mails on their BlackBerries and use the Internet on their cell phones if the Democratic leadership refuses to allow the Senate to debate and pass this legislation,” Senator John McCain (R-AZ) proclaimed during hearings yesterday. McCain is co-sponsor of a version of the bill that would make the moratorium permanent. There is another version, the Internet Tax Freedom Extension Act of 2007, sponsored by Senators Tom Carper (D-DE) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN), that would extend the ban until October of 2011.
Holy crap, the salivation from the politicans is starting to flood my room, IT’S GETTING NEAR THE CABLE MODEM COR-
The internet will never be taxed.
I’ve read state sales tax code and every state that has sales taxes, the tax code is enormous.
There have been unsuccessful efforts to simplify the sales tax code in different states to comply with the 1992 (or thereabouts) Supreme Court ruling that said (in essense) inter-state sales tax collection would be acceptable if states had drastically simplified sales tax code.
As it is, the massive burden to comply with sales tax code for 45 different states would be nearly impossible, even with software.
The effort to reform sales tax code has mostly failed because states don’t really want to give their power to arbitrarily tax X, Y, Z and not tax A, B, C while specially taxing E, F, G.
Most states that have a sales tax also have a Use tax which is basically the same tax on things that are bought by its’ citizens from other states.
It is just a matter of time before the states start enforcing the use taxes on items purchased via the Internet. Local businesses are going to demand it.
I wish the states would go in the opposite direction and drop the sales tax. Would make the internet taxation problem go away.
All I know is that this is the only time where you don’t want those tax lovin’ Democrats at the helm.
As opposed to having the deficit lovin’ Republican spenders at the helm?
“Interwebitube”…. hmm-hmm-hmm Merriam-Webster is not amused.
#5. #6. Mmm, I wonder which Republican president signed this bill back in 1998?
Oh, wait …
And I thought the GOP’s free-market ideology was against the government “picking winners.” Why should ISPs be tax-free when their competitors – telcos and cable companies – have to pay taxes on their core services? Doesn’t this unfairly give VOIP and IPTV a leg up?
This is not about sales tax remember, but taxation on the service as on telephone and cable. A large consortium of States have banned together and are working out a reciprocal tax collection scheme. Many agree by sometime in 2008 that all major etailers will be collecting tax on purchases for over 40 States. Less than 5% of tax payers self report purchases bought out of state.
Why are you supporting tax cuts now? Why are you giving special tax cuts to the wealthy?
>>The internet will never be taxed.
No, but now it’s “the Interwebitubes”. Maybe that is taxable.
Make up a new word that replaces a perfectly serviceable old word, and see where it gets ya??
The ban will automatically expire, and the relevant people show no interest in having it extended. This is the cost of having Democrats in charge, along with a rollback of the Bush tax cuts, and also an additional tax hike is what Charles Rangel has in mind. Also, you are likely to see more pushes for amnesty for illegal immigrants. The last bill failed, but Dick Durbin is back with a quiet amendment that does much of the same.
#12. last time I checked, a Republican was still “the decider.”
And whatever happened to that famous Republican federalism, ie that the local and State governments know best, or at least better that Big Daddy Federal Government.
(Oh, I forgot, that went into cold storage when No Child Left Behind got rolled out.)
If you dont want your internet access taxed by your local government, talk to them about it.
In California one has to pay the tax either as sales tax or as use tax (self-collected). Stop the foolishness. If it is taxable from a local retailer, its taxable over the internet. As for the it-is-too-complicated argument: that is what databases are good at. For any item for any address, it either is or is not taxable.
Mail order doesn’t work that way and I think they just copied that model when they set up the current tax status of the internet.
I still think it would be best if all states got rid of the sales tax but I suppose that’s not going to happen anytime soon. We do fine in NH without a sales tax. I believe there are a few other states in the union that get by without a sales tax as well.
Read the article people! This is about taxing your internet service; it is not about sales taxes on things you buy over the net. Most of the comments above are about the latter.
Hey, I’m from Delaware with no sales tax either buying stuff in a shop or on-line. But the state does like to tax things without calling it a sales tax – like the 2% “Document Fee” for new cars. I’m sure if they could add a ‘Internet access fee” they would.
-taxes are bad, mmkay?
just say NO to any type of internet tax.. esp service and bandwidth taxing…
service/bandwidth taxes are the opening shots towards censorship. let this through and soon enough some crackpot in congress will figure a way to tax content.. etc etc.
/me goes back to sleep..
-s
I see no logical reason why an ISP should not be taxed the same as any other service. The same with on-line purchases. Why should they not be taxed?
@ #14
“For any item for any address, it either is or is not taxable.”
You know so little you should seriously consider running for Congress 😉
Doug, George Bush is not the decider in this case. He can only decide to veto the bill or sign it. He can’t force Congress to pass it, which is what has to happen since the tax automatically expires.
#18 – Because I work hard for MY money and it already got taxed and I’m tired of funding bullshit government programs…
AND because the $1100 I just gave to New Egg last night would have cost about $100 more… That money is better spent on video games than on the new publicly funded stadium for the Indianapolis Colts, which is where my tax money now goes…
#16 – Read the article people! This is about taxing your internet service; it is not about sales taxes on things you buy over the net. Most of the comments above are about the latter.
We came here to bitch about crap… Not to understand the damn articles… We are all gonna have to sit in rocking chairs and yell at kids someday… You can either practice now or be outcrabbed by the rest of us in your old age.
#20. Oh, I am sure that if he wanted to, Bush could simply veto every spending bill until the internet tax exemption was restored. But he won’t.