Internet tax bill: No thanks!

[RummyTheDummy]

This is an horrible idea and I don't buy the arugments the propenents are making. An internet tax would NOT keep states from raising other taxes or laying off state workers. They'd just raise the taxes, lay off the workers while STILL taxing internet usage. Interesting to see Repugs who are supposedly opposed to taxes of any kind supporting this.

From the NY Times:

Senate Debate Due on Hotly Contested Internet Tax Bill
By JOHN SCHWARTZ


The long-delayed federal Internet tax bill that would turn a temporary moratorium on taxes on Internet access into a permanent ban is scheduled for debate today on the floor of the Senate.

The argument over the bill has been as heated as a chat-room brawl. Opponents contend that state coffers will be emptied as more areas of commerce - like telephone service - become Internet-based and fall within the ban. "Every time we, in our wisdom, tell a state or a city that it cannot use this tax, all we are doing is increasing the chance that Minnesota or Tennessee will increase some other tax, or fire some teachers or lay off some employees or close some parks," Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee, said Tuesday on the Senate floor.

Supporters argue that the states want to tax every e-mail message, even every electron. The bill, they say, will not have the dire effects that opponents predict. "You now have what amounts to a final assault on the bill," said Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, who is sponsoring the bill with George Allen, Republican of Virginia.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/06/technology/06net.html?ex=1068699600&en=e7028f7ea10c60b5&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE

[Evanstondem]

1. I don't often agree with Lamar Alexander

but this is one of those times. Ending this bill will not lead to taxes on emails or website visits, it will just let states tax online purchases just as they already tax purchases in physical stores. Otherwise the drain on state treasuries will grow as online sales increase.

One other point -- the online sales tax moratorium tends to benefit higher income households. Poor people can't afford computers, so they can't avoid sales taxes by buying products online.

[RummyTheDummy]

2. That hasn't been my experience.....

I'm certainly not rich but I like to buy stuff on the internet because of there's no sales tax in most cases. With the affordability of computers in the last 5-10 years you don;t need to be rich to own one nor shop online.

[spindoctor]

3. What's the big deal?

Taxes are the only revenue for governments (unless somebody thinks its a good idea to privatize government?).
If they can't get it here, they will get it somewhere else.

Bottom line...you pay. If we don't pay tax on internet, they'll raise some other tax, Alexander says. What kind of argument is that? What do I care if I have to pay tax on the internet, on my coffee, or on taking a piss if I have to choose between them?

I do have a problem with indirect taxes as a whole, because they target only a part of the population. Unless they serve a direct purpose. For instance, I would not oppose a road tax if that revenue was used for road maintenance.
If this internet tax would be used to make internet available to everyone, I say go for it. In any other case, just raise the frickin' state tax.

[Fall_No_Further]

4. Here's a big deal.

As it is now, the internet is the only medium where, with a minimum of investment, it is possible to communicate with a truly great mass of people. Look at the Drudge Report: the news sucks, but it's run on a shoe-string budget and reaches a humongous audience of influential people. You start taxing the internet and it's utility as an alternate news source could and likely would dry up very quickly. After all, if you're taxing "every electron," how long can an independant operator really afford to stay in business? Especially if larger media conglomerates have the money to lobby the government for taxes on internet media sources, taxes that would be intended to be prohibitive to the continued existence of independant/alternative internet media? Sound farfetched? I don't think so, not if the tax moratorium is lifted.

[funkyflathead]

5. Internet taxes suck

More rich politicians trying to steal my money.

Of course they can afford internet taxes. They're not working class like me.