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Internet Tax Imminent?
jhigh writes "Proposals to tax the Internet are gaining steam as state legislators see a giant pot of money just waiting to be dipped into. "At the moment, states and municipalities are frequently barred by federal law from collecting both access and sales taxes. But they're hoping that their new lobbying effort, coordinated by groups including the National Governors Association, will pay off by permitting them to collect billions of dollars in new revenue by next year.""
Good. The sooner, the better. I can't wait to see the consumer-whores freak out over not being able to dodge sales tax at the expense of their local communities! Bring back local businesses. Make Net businesses compete on the same level as their brick-and-mortar counterparts.
I don't respond to AC's.
The less taxes, the better. Removing taxes removes money from the Government. Removing money from the Government removes power. A less powerful Government is always a good thing.
I wonder if I use bold in my signature, people will notice my posts.
I pay for access. My ISP pays taxes on their revenue. Does that not count?
My ISP pays the owner of lines they lease. The line owner pays taxes on their revenue. Does that not count?
My ISP pays other ISP's in access agreements. They all pay taxes. Does that not count?
The service providers make revenue. They pay taxes on the revenue. Does that not count?
On top of the services there are advertisers. They make revenues and pay taxes. Does that not count?
It seems to me the whole system is already covered.
When is the tea party?
wow, an impressive dupe, and even less information than before!
Still, I think that an internet tax is a pretty stupid idea; it'll make municipal wifi harder to do because the taxes would have to be added to the general burden, which people wouldn't like. Not to mention that it'll disproportionately hit the poorer members of society (in proportion of income terms), which makes the tax seem pretty unjust... Although it will give your congress a good opportunity to draw in billions extra which will almost certainly be wasted...
*''I can't believe it's not a hyperlink.''
If they're taxing the tubes, does any commerce that goes through them get marked up, thus hiking prices for the consumer? I mean, fantastic, well done Uncle Sam - you've discovered a new and massive source of revenue, which incidentally buggers a large and growing element in your economy! Way to combat the national debt and fight the next dotcom bubble-burst.
And, more importantly, I'd like to know how this affects other countries. How many key internet services are run from or through the US? ICANN, DNS etc... all this and net-neutrality too. Why does the world seem slightly more fucked up every time you get up in the morning?
Sorry, I'm done. You can mod me down now.
Meta will eat itself
This is VERY good news. Just the other day I was complaining to my friends how I don't pay enough in taxes. I mean Federal, state, FICA, Medicare, sales tax, gas tax, car tax at purchase, car excise tax every year, property tax, car renewal tax every year, car inspection tax every year, tax on cell phone service, tax on cable service, tax on internet service, tax on food, etc. etc. This is not enough! I must be taxed more!
33% of every work week is worked just to pay the big 3 in taxes. I wonder what it is when you factor in all the above (and anything I missed). At some point something as got to give.
Same great article, now less filling!
But seriously, we can laugh now, but I wouldn't put this past our government. They've passed worse (DMCA anyone?) The Internet needs to be kept free and international - belonging to no single nation. And that means no nation should be able to tax it.
I installed Linux on a car, but it crashed due to bad drivers...
the most regressive tax there is!
Monstar L
Deleted
exactly , but holding the little guys down who can't seem to get heads above water is what this government wants to do, they seem to like spreading the middle class to rich gap more while closing the poor to middle class gap.
Very upsetting to say the least.
This package Does Not Contain a Winner
For all of you people complaining that they are only raising these taxes to pay for the war, or XYZ national spending, they aren't. This is strictly (at this point) a state issue. The states want to raise taxes, the states are lobbying to increase their local revenue. Granted, once the net access moratorium expires, the feds will probably be the 1st or second ones (behind california) to start taxing net access, but the sales tax issues are strictly the states. The federal government doesn't levy sales taxes, and that is part of the problem with sales tax, you have thousands of tax bodies, and amazon, ebay, et al would have to understand and compute sales tax based on these thousands if not hundreds of thousands of rules.
Now, I'm as much against having internet taxes as any respectable slashdotter, but don't blame the Feds, this is the states lobbying (and the democrats love of taxation), but it isn't going to pay for the war. BTW, this issue is the #1 reason I always vote republican. The Democrats haven't even been in power 1 year, and they're already going to screw the internet. Seriously, since the internet started to get big in 93-94, the Republicans have been in power in congress. It only takes the democrats 6 months in power to totally ruin it?!
If this goes through Amazon would have to have a moratorium on hiring programmers, and they'd have to halt any new features they are working on. They'd have to hire as many accountants as they would normally programmers, and put all their coders to work implementing the new tax collection system on behalf of all the state and local governments. At least in the state I live in, depending on where you sell a product, you could be responsible to collect state, county, and municipality sales taxes all individually. You then have to file a tax return with all 3 of the collecting bodies.
If Amazon is forced to do this, they will have to file > 10,000 tax returns every quarter, lots of fun! And you get the added bonus that most state and local tax collection bodies have no electronic filing for sales tax, no way to automate the process. It is manually printing out a form and mailing it, or maybe if you're lucky faxing it, but either way, its 10,000 tax returns that a person has to physically handle.
If they do attempt to tax e-mail, or create a per-e-mail fee, or tax Internet use...they would essentially be double-taxing us. We are already taxed for the price of the Internet service...which includes fees and taxes for whatever line you get for your service.
If the government really wanted to put a per-use tax on services like the Internet or e-mail...then they have to completely overhaul how we pay for the service in the first place (which again, is ALREADY taxed).
A few points in response:
First, while the F-22 by itself may be only a small issue, it is a symptom of a much greater ailment. For another example, look at the Seawolf class submarines. They cost nearly a billion dollars each and were also designed to meet a threat that no longer exists. The design was hastily retrofitted to allow for the placement of special forces troops, but that doesn't change the fact that the submarine is a white elephant that could be replaced by something cheaper.
Second, the military budget is huge. 2% of a very large number is still a very large number. Each F-22 costs ~$200 million. That money could outfit a significant number of troops with better body armor and more heavily armored vehicles.
Third, what is the overall cost of maintenance of these new toys? The stealth coatings and advanced avionics used in modern jets could conceivably require more maintenance and upgrades in the long term, nullifying the effects of being able to retire outdated aircraft.
We all know what to do, but we don't know how to get re-elected once we have done it
Please see Putin saber rattling article elsewhere on Slashdot today.
Seawolf class is designed to be able to project power.
The cheaper diesel littoral craft and subs do not project power.
Sure, the Chinese are tough, but only in their little corner of the world.
Seawolf is tough everywhere. That's the difference.
If you want to argue that the US should not be interfering with other countries then go ahead. But, when that happens get used to skyrocketing prices (we can no longer protect our cheap suppliers) and shortages of all sorts of stuff (when some other tinpot local decides to mess with our supplies).
Well, for one thing, there are the ethical implications of not doing so. Believe it or not, there are people in our society who cannot take care of themselves through no fault of their own. Why should we allow people to needlessly suffer and die when we have it within our means to not?
For another, ethical concerns aside, we as a society have a vested interest in making sure that our population is a healthy and productive one. If some members of it aren't, we should do what we can—for the sake of ourselves, if for no other reason, since we also benefit from their future productivity—to ensure that they have a chance to become so again.
Now, I know what you're thinking, that everyone on welfare and other government programs are leeches sucking off the teat of our hard-earned pay. And yes, there are a few people out there like that. But as weird as it may seem, the vast majority of people on government programs don't want to be. They'd love to be in the middle class, or even wealthy.
The problem is that most of these people either 1) don't know how to do so, or 2) have gotten so depressed with a society that systematically prevents them from making more of themselves because everyone is so damned greedy that they figure it's not worth their time and effort. They figure that they'll just end up right where they are now, just shorter of breath and one day closer to death. What's sad is that we as a country used to not be so much this way, but that these people are for the most part correct now.
Do I think that government is doing a spectacular job of helping people to help themselves? No, because it's become rather corrupt with greedy bastards who don't really care about you or me and just want to enjoy the lavish lifestyle of a Congressman. But do I think that one of the reasons government exists is to provide for the general welfare of society by doing things like providing assistance to those who need it? Yes, I most wholeheartedly do.
I mean isn't the parking meter approach to everything specifically a Libertarians' wet dream? Everything is pay as you go. Sounds to me that the complainers are being a tad disingenuous.
You're joking, right? Every dollar I spend at retail goes through at least three rounds of taxation: federal income tax, state income tax, and sales tax. And God help me if I manage to save one of my twice-taxed salary dollars, rather than spend it immediately; the interest I earn is taxed by the same gang of thieves all over again.