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Ban on Internet Taxes to Expire
slacknet writes: "Well, it looks like the government could be lifting the ban on taxes related to the Internet, CNN reports here. While the House of Representatives has already passed a two-year extension on the ban, the Senate has not. Newsbytes.com also has an article on this matter here. I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks this probably isn't the best time economically to be discussing any sort of additional taxes." I think Newsbytes has it right - the federal ban is likely to be reinstated soon, they just didn't get around to it this week.
NOthing stimulates a sagging economy like a tax cut. The federal government would be insane to pass a tax cut at this time. George W isn't going to make the same mistakes as his father....
<br>Bills to raise taxes have to originate in the House, and clearly they are not interested.
If you want to kill whats left of "dot coms" and online commerce, begin taxing it nationwide. I usually can find certain things online cheaper than in a store even with shipping figured in, however if you add tax it's going to be nearly the same, or more. So it'll just be worth going and getting it and having it "now", so yeah, they need to get their act together and instate the extension.
..There's a-dooin's a-transpirin'
A bad idea right now to be sure, but for the long haul, having exemptions for net trading is maybe not such a good idea. It does penalize local merchants, and gives rise to a whole lot of unnecessary transports. Some framework is needed so that local governments can decide on this without creating scewed markets (just deciding whether taxes should be paid at the salesman's or customer's jurisdiction would go a long way).
OK, I'm ready to get flamed...
/Janne
Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
If localities start imposing internet taxes on anything bought within their juridictions I think we'll see a migration to other states. We should start seeing localities try to entice .com's to move with tax breaks, zoning law breaks, and everything else that governments use to lure businesses into their borders.
Although we bash the house a lot, it is quite significant here. In terms of Federal taxes, what the house says goes. After all, all tax bills must originate in the house, so if the Federal government was planning on taxing the internet, we needn't worry. "All bills raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representives..." (Article I, section 7)
If people are worried about State Taxes, which could theoretically be passed if no Federal law prohibits them, they should also relax. As you know, states can only tax intra-state commerce. THey can't tax anythinhg at the comes in at thier borders under any circumstances. So, very few internet transactions are at risk here. Also, considering it would probably be difficult to argue that anything you do over the internet is entirely within one state. (Did you use a router in another state?)
FInally, in the current economic climate, I can't imagine any government would ever want to pass a law discouraging commerce.
I don't thing we have to worry about this,
--Alex Fishman
If online stores start charging taxes nation wide, then there will probably be a decrease in sales for them.
This would not be good for companies like UPS, Fedex, Airborne Express, and the USPS. They would start losing business because they will have less to ship.
UPS has already reported that their earnings are down 19 percent. If people quit buying merchandise online, then UPS will lose some more business and their earnings will fall even more.
"the fax machine is nothing but a waffle iron with a phone attached to it." - Grandpa Simpson
so will the main reason people are willing to buy over the Internet -- saving on taxes. Once taxes are factored in with shipping costs it's hard to have a low enough price to beat the guy down the street.
-- @rjamestaylor on Ello