Senate Mulls Internet Tax Ban - VoIP Exempt?

securitas writes "eWEEK's Caron Carlson reports that this week the U.S. Senate will vote on renewing an Internet tax ban, but voice over IP (VoIP) may be taxed. The bill renews a state/local ban on taxing Internet services like VoIP. The federal government wants to define VoIP as a software application exempt from taxes while most states see it as an alternate form of telephony subject to telecommunications taxes. House and Senate bills that define VoIP as a software application have already been introduced but may not be voted on before the Internet tax vote."

Comments

Re:Go home

[SquierStrat]

I'm not a republican or a redneck and I own several guns. Bullets are taxed: sales tax.

The majority of bullets sold through normal channels (about 90% anyhow) are not used for anything but target practice, match shooting and hunting. 99% of bullets sold on the blackmarket (which are not taxed) are used for crime. If you create a heavy tax on bullets you'll end upw ith the same situation they have in NY with cigarettes: HUGE black market.

Idea for government

[tomstdenis]

How about's ya stop spending billions commiting warcrimes [that are so blatant that the daily show makes fun of on a.... daily basis!] and say.... invest the money into industries OTHER than munitions?

Just a thought... me thinks if you didn't spend 5x the money you spend on education each year on war you wouldn't have 10k/year tuition, no healthcare or such....

I know the concept of "not being a war nation" is new to most politicians but really it's about time you give it a chance. I'd love to see the US have a military of say 100k max ... that would put things into perspective...

Tom

Translation:

[Anonymous Coward]

They do not call us the bouters is gladly favourable our real we want boasted be of Fillem and TV we to be too large for smurfen if slake its we too small therefore nobody wants our has how do funny we also its Bouterdart our real no pain. We can stand still not well we to jump in around that do not make our unsuitable as a figurine on the ground we bouters are therefore unemployed we get why we are lively volkje and not at all stupid! But Bouterdart do even pain. Plop could not us stand that zo'n insipid vent is we was much too busy that is-tie not got used. We can sing not well, therefore Disney did not become it. Those wild only basses in its gnome song.

Title

[Greyfox]

Was that a haiku?
You were one syllable short
Better luck next time

Re:You got that backwards again.

[Ungrounded Lightning]

But of course the lefties are ALWAYS accusing their opposition of their own sins.

And Republicans don't?

Usually not, actually.

The two parties attract two different types of compensated psychopaths. The Republicans attract the rule-bound, while the Democrats attract the anything-you-can-get-away-with. ("Politics is the Art of the Possible." -LBJ) This means the Republicans get the compulsive truth-tellers and the Democrats get the pathological liars.

Not all in either party are such, of course, but psychopaths ARE vastly overrepresented in politics. But the non-psychopaths of each party tend to have personal ethics similar to the psychopaths - which is why the two different styles are attracted to the two parties.

This is not to say there aren't other problems than compulsive lying with a rule-bound compensated psychopath, of course. (For starters, if you don't play EXACTLY by HIS particular set of rules, you suddenly find yourself on his scumbag list. Expect to be treated like a crook, terrorist, or trator.)

Understanding this is key to understanding the politics of the two major parties. Their members really DO think and act differently. And the members and/or supporters of each tend to become very confused when they expect the other sides' people to act like their own.