Slashdot Mirror
Amended Internet Tax Ban Will Not Include VoIP
Spritzer writes "Yesterday, the House Judiciary Committee approved an amendment to the Internet Tax Freedom Act of 1998 which would prevent the tax ban from expiring. However, the amendment also eliminates tax protection for VoIP services. 'The amendment, offered by committee Chairman John Conyers Jr., a Michigan Democrat, would extend the ban on Internet access taxes until Nov. 1, 2011. ... The Conyers amendment would allow nine states with Internet access taxes to continue them. It would also narrow the definition of Internet access, excluding services such as VoIP from the tax ban.'"
If pure VOIP starts getting taxed, then it'll just be adjusted so that it's not technically a VOIP service. E.g. is it VOIP if it includes video? What about in-game voice systems? What if it does some random surfing in the background at the same time? Is a system that sends voice clips via email a VOIP system? What if I'm exchanging music or sound effects - do they count as a 'voice'?
Z.
Hmm - how does Voice Over Internet Protocol not constitute internet access?
You looking at this the wrong way, this isn't about rational laws, this is about states seeing a decline in revenue due to people giving up their (taxed)landlines for VOIP(currently untaxed). So to keep the state coffers full, we slip in an exemption for VOIP so states can keep collecting money on phone service.
I laughed at the weak who considered themselves good because they lacked claws.
This actually makes sense to me, as much as most of /. will hate it. It means states, and even the feds, can't insert taxes on access or on most things, but it excludes from that ban a service which has a direct analogue in the ... analog world. Taxes on phone services such as the Universal Service Fee go (at least theoretically) to extending access to people that don't have it.
Here's what it really comes down to - as taxes decrease from one source, they must increase from another. The government isn't spending less money, so if less people have phone lines, they must make up the money some other way. Like it or hate it, that's the fact. And yes, this means that eventually, there will probably be an internet sales tax. It's just a matter of what congressmen are willing to be vilified in the eyes of the public, in order to get it done. And if there isn't, it just means income tax (both fed and especially state) must be increased, or some other form of taxation found. Your tax burden in general should never be decreased - it's just a matter of how it's taken from you.
-Daniel
Honestly, I'm tired of all this tax BS. Tax my net income and be done with it. Having taxes simplified would in fact save money for all. Just think about all the money spent on supporting, enforcing, collecting, evading and what-not, on multiple taxes. I know, I know, I'm thinking like an engineer and not a politician or tax-attorney.