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Internet Service Tax Moritorium Set To Expire
nelsonjs writes "On November 1, the ban on taxing Internet service is set to expire. The ban was originally implemented in 1998 in order to encourage the proliferation of Net access. The Senate is considering two competing bills to extend the ban: one would extend it for four years and the other would make the ban permanent. Verizon and Google, usually to be found on opposite sides of any question of Net access, are united in lobbying for the permanent tax ban. If neither passes by November 1, prices for Internet service nationwide could jump by as much as 17 percent, according to ISPs."
The politicians are unlikely to make the ban (on the tax) permanent - each time the ban is about to expire, they get to look good to their constituents without actually doing anything.
So it'll get extended... again... and then in N years we'll hear another net-centric story propagated by a media wanting our avid attention for politicians who want our unconditional vote.
Move Along.... nothing to really see here...
I hope the ban is extended. I'd prefer permanently, but I'd be content with a 4 year extension...for 4 years anyway. If it's not the internet is gonna become just like cell phones. Sign up for a $40/month plan and end up paying $55 after all the taxes. C'mon congress!
What's the matter, James? No glib remark? No pithy comeback?
You know, this is insanely stupid bill. Let's take two people, Farmer Joe in Oregon and City Jake in New York City. Farmer Joe has Internet access for mundane tasks and will usually go online maybe 3 times a month to check weather stats, maybe check out the prices on Cattle feed. For his access he pays say 20.00 a month. City Jake in New York City - to make a long story short - lives online spending in excess of 12 hours daily. He pays 20.00 a month. Why should Farmer Joe now have to pay an Internet tax if he should, why should it be more than City Jakes taxes. What I can see happening is less usage over time as consumers will be less likely inclined to pay high fees for what is almost always in the home segment iffy service at best (how many times has your cable provider went down... DSL had issues). If this should happen it would mean less consumer spending throughout the country and world (why should I spend a 17% tax when I can walk to the mall). Politicians are just plain e-stupid
Infiltrated dot Net
Strangely enough, you could argue that it may be (FYI, this is the cited precedent for most anti-tax situations). If you made a purchase for which sales tax would be applicable within your home state, and sales tax isn't included in the cost, then you may be responsible for declaring the purchase to the state and paying the tax accordingly.
This all assumes that you actually paid for that porn in the first place, though.
Misery loves company. Online misery loves unsuspecting random strangers.
This time around, we have a Democrat-controlled House and Senate.
:-P
My guess? We're about to see Dem's true colors shine through: TAX IT!
And of course, the people cheering this on are going to be the same ones who want to put health-care decisions for the entire US in the hands of the same government that brought us the TSA.
The websites and the brick and mortar shops both have to pay local state sales tax, provided that the customer is in the same state as the website's product point of origin (For a service, its the main/local office that determines if you pay sales). Thats why newegg customers have to pay tax in NJ and a few other states, they ship products from there. That's to prevent the diner from setting up a web kiosk to order coffee and allowing the waitresses to be merely couriers of the product ordered over the web.
I think you might have conventional sales tax confused with what this article is talking about. Unless the mom and pop diner opened up web service that would then be subject to the tax, they would actually end up with ~%11 savings over a taxed website.
Either that or it has to deal with ISP "service". I didn't read the article, the summary usually provides enough entertainment.
Is it sad that I am more likely to recognize you and your posts by your sig than your name or UID?
If you fight to keep the special treatment of internet companies over brick-and-mortar companies, you are no better than the vested special interests that you often criticize.
Yeesh. As has already been pointed out to you, this isn't about sales taxes on the goods that happen to be ordered online. This is about taxing the service you're buying which connects you to the internet. Much like your cable and phone services are already being taxed.
That being said: A small mom-and-pop retailer that takes an order over the phone, or through the mail, or by fax, or off of an auction site, or from their own web site is - JUST LIKE AMAZON - not obligated to collect and remit sales tax if they happen to ship out of state. Conversely, companies like Amazon DO have to collect and remit sales tax if they're shipping into a state where they have a business presence. So, if Amazon operates a warehouse/distribution center in Maryland, then they're on the hook to remit Maryland sales tax on any orders they ship to Maryland addresses.
Very large companies, increasingly, DO have offices, operations, or other "nexus" in more than one state, and are increasingly on the hook to collect such taxes for those state governments. Further, you've got places like California, which has been known to lean on out-of-state retailers to remit CA sales tax whether they have a presence there or not. Their leverage? The tell retailers that if they don't, they'll be blacklisted from any purchasing done by any agency of the CA state government. And while that may not matter to Uncle-Jim's-Fly-Rods-dot-com in Idaho, it definitely matters to retailers that sell office supplies, truck fleet parts, computer hardware, etc. It hits big companies, and the mom-and-pops the same way.
Your example of the diner is a particularly bad one. There is no un-taxed competition shipping competing omlettes and cups of hot coffee in from out of state. If your point is that there are large businesses (in other lines of work) making money by doing business with the residents of a given state, and not collecting sales tax... remember that it's the CONSUMER'S responsibility to pay sales and use taxes on stuff they buy from out of state. Don't like that the sale isn't taxed up front? Don't sweat it... it's the people who live in YOUR state that are then supposed to pay those taxes on the goods they buy from out of state. Otherwise, you've got businesses that aren't even IN your state having to do insane amounts of paperwork with your state government. Some states have sales tax rates that vary by zip code, and which depend on the type of goods being purchased, and which change seasonally. Should every retailer in every state have to keep track of, and remit all of that nonsense to every other state government around the country? Or should your fellow state citizens simply pay up when they buy something big ticket from out of state?
And lastly: how about simply making your state a more attractive place from which to OPERATE a large retailer? That way you get WAY more cash flow into the state coffers... income taxes on the employees, corporate incomes and real-estate taxes, taxes on all of the services and utilities that the company uses in the state, taxes on all of the services and items that the employees consume in that state, taxes on the incomes of all of the third-party vendors and service providers that support the company in your state. What you SHOULD be doing is asking your legislators to find ways to make your local infrastructure and circumstances very attractive to the next Amazon.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
You don't pay taxes on your water or electricity bills?