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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.'"
NOT NO BAN on new taxes, EXCEPT NOT on voip, but NOT after 2011.
Hmm - how does Voice Over Internet Protocol not constitute internet access? Will this then be applicable to things like Skype, and other hybrid (i.e. video/voice/chat) VOIP services that don't resemble POTS so strongly?
The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. - Albert Einstein
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.
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
A bit is just a bit,
A byte is just a byte.
The fundamental things apply,
As packets go by.
Trying to identify bits for their "content" is a little like trying to tell air molecules apart. Congress is now on the same slippery slope as the Bells, who want to charge extra for "premium" content.
Or do they they think the taxes can be collected by the VOIP companies themselves? But what if my VOIP provider is in Outer Elbonia? They have no infrastructure in my state, or any nexus, for that matter. If I pay my phone bill with a credit card or, better yet, by cash deposit on my next trip there, where's the mechanism for enforcement?
Again, Congresspeople, just because something scratches an itch and sounds "fair" doesn't mean it's even a tiny bit workable.
The prevailing groupthink tells me that taxes are good, and the internet is good, but taxes on the internet are bad!
That violates the very laws of multiplication, and could threaten the universe as we know it!
"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
This marks a particularly sad moment in the history of News for Nerds political activism.
While I agree that specifically allowing taxation of voip "for which there is a charge" (the language in the actual law) is a bad idea, it was a bad idea back in 2003 when it was included in the LAST internet tax renewal that became law. The voip language in the current bill is just a restatement of what has been law for 4 years. The fact that an editor here, particularly an editor who feels comfortable passing on political stories, is ignorant of a pretty important provision in one of the most prominent pieces of technology legislation (and a one page piece of legislation at that) does not give a lot of aid and comfort to those who support the tech community on these issues.
Now, if you want to complain about something, this new House bill, and the one currently in the Senate Commerce committee (Not the Wyden (author of the original internet tax ban) Senate bill S.156, or Eshoo House bill H.743) both include a revised definition that specifically only covers services offered by ISPs, opening up non-isp web services (net radio, youtube, joost) to taxation. Big surprise, these narrower definitions are the ones championed by Verizon and ATT and the now ironically named "don't tax the web" coalition.
THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal...
VOIP is passed out in the corner; Online Video is ordering shots for Online Retailers -- they won't last long. State Legislator is pissed that he was not invited and has called the cops to shut this party down.
I guess the only way to make Michigan's tax environment look better is to make everyone else's tax environment look just as bad.